New
leisure facilities forecast to fuel domestic tourism at over 7.5% per year
until 2020
·
61,224
hotel rooms currently in the pipeline to meet projected demand from domestic
and religious tourism
·
Arabian
Travel Market to showcase the best of the Kingdom’s tourist attractions
Saudi Arabia’s travel and tourism sector is
expected to contribute more than $81 billion to the country’s GDP by 2026,
according to data from the World Travel and Tourism Council, as exhibitors
prepare to showcase what the Kingdom has to offer at this year’s Arabian Travel
Market (ATM), which is being held in the Dubai World Trade Centre from April
23-27 2017.
This is being driven, in part, by domestic
tourism - the number of local tourist trips inside Saudi Arabia, exceeded 47.5
million last year (2016) - a 2.3% rise compared to 2015. Under the Saudi Government’s
Vision 2030, plans are afoot to increase household spending on cultural and
entertainment activities inside the country, from 2.9% to 6%.
Simon Press, Senior Exhibition Director, ATM
2017, commented: “Plans are already well underway to achieve this target. The
government has appointed the board of the General Entertainment Authority, and
Six Flags has revealed exciting plans to expand into the country, with the
first entertainment park scheduled to open as soon as 2020-21.
“Vision 2030 also seeks to double the number
of UNESCO heritage sites to encourage more domestic tourism, while both Holy
Mosques have large expansion plans, and Makkah and Madinah have major
infrastructure works underway or in the pipeline that would assist with travel
to and within these religious sites.”
Saudi exhibitors at ATM 2017 will highlight
what the Kingdom has to offer and the exciting developments in the pipeline. As
well as the possible Six Flags theme park, Riyadh is also expected to see the
opening of two major shopping malls: Mall of Saudi, with 300,000 square metres
of retail and entertainment space, a large snow park and hotels, and The
Avenues Riyadh, a $1.9bn shopping complex. Another mega project that is bound
to draw Saudi tourists includes Kingdom Tower in Jeddah – proposed to be the
world’s next tallest building.
Colliers International’s Saudi Arabia Hospitality Market report revealed domestic tourism in
Saudi Arabia will grow by 7.5% per annum until 2020, compared to 6.1% for
overseas visitors.
Earlier this month, Prince Sultan bin Salman,
president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, said Saudi
Arabia will become ‘one of the biggest players’ in the industry. This followed
news of additional government investment in tourism totaling $800 million.
To cope with the projected demand, there are
an additional 61,224 hotel rooms in the pipeline across Saudi Arabia, despite major
cities experiencing an overall drop in occupancy levels and average daily rates
in 2016, as a result of low oil prices, precautionary corporate and overall
government cuts in spending.
Leading global data benchmarking company STR
said hotel occupancy levels in Saudi Arabia in 2016 was 59.5%, an overall drop
of 4.8% on the previous year. Average daily rates (ADR) were also down 3.9% to SAR
764.08, while RevPAR stood at SAR 454.85, a fall of 8.5%.
“We expect 2017 to be more positive, with a
particularly strong focus on leisure, religious and domestic tourism as the
country looks to increase the contribution from the non-oil sectors,” added
Press.
ATM
- considered by many industry professionals as a barometer for the Middle East
and North Africa tourism sector, witnessed a year-on-year visitor attendance
increase of 9% to over 28,500 in 2016, with 2,785 exhibiting companies, signing
business deals worth more than US$ 2.5 billion over four days.
Held under the patronage of
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime
Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, ATM 2017 will build on its success with
the announcement of an additional hall as Reed Travel Exhibitions looks to add
to its record-breaking achievements of 2016.
For more information on Arabian Travel Market
2017, please visit: www.arabiantravelmarket.wtm.com
