Tourism sector in Saudi Arabia: outlook

Hossam Al Gendy, general manager of Holiday Inn Jeddah Al Salam hotel, talks about the tourism sector in Jeddah and Saudi Arabia.

He said, “Jeddah has been the center of trade for the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Besides tourism, a lot of conferences have been held in Jeddah for the past 5 years. A lot of people are coming to Jeddah for business. This is why the South and North Jeddah hotels are full. The average occupancy in Jeddah has increased by over 70%. Furthermore, 40% to 50% of the 70% comes for business. The rest is accounted for in leisure tourism. This comprises people visiting the holy cities or people visiting the Old City of Jeddah and the shopping malls in Jeddah.”

“The tourism industry in Saudi Arabia has improved a lot in the past few years. Previously, there were some restrictions on the visas to visit Saudi Arabia, mainly because it is a pilgrimage center for Muslims. Recently, SAGIA started issuing visas to help businessmen visit Saudi Arabia. Also, they have started offering extra facilities to travel agencies to allow them to bring in tourists from outside. Statistics show that during the past 10 years (from 2004 to 2014), tourism in Jeddah has increased by approximately 75%. We are expecting that we will have more volume of business coming in from the tourism sector, especially since the government is trying to overcome most of the challenges faced by the tourists coming to Saudi Arabia,” he adds.