Marriott International plans to double the number of its hotels in Saudi Arabia during the next two years, Tourism Minister Ahmed al-Khatib announced on Thursday.
The move will create over 21,500 jobs that will support the kingdom’s goal to provide one million new jobs in the tourism sector by 2030, Khatib said on his Twitter account.
The announcement was made during the minister’s meeting with CEO of Marriott International Anthony Capuano, during which they discussed the company’s plans in the Saudi tourism sector.
Marriott has been operating in the kingdom for more than four decades, with its key hotel brands spread across major cities.
In October, Khatib said the sector had begun to recover from the coronavirus repercussions, highlighting an expected rapid growth that would affect the sector’s activities.
In other news, Colliers International said in a report that hotel occupancy rates is likely to reach 60 percent and 50 percent in Riyadh and Jeddah respectively during 2021.
Hotel occupancy rate is expected to reach 56 percent in al-Khobar, 32 percent in Madinah and 24 percent in Makkah, the research firm said in its monthly report for MENA hotels in November.
Colliers also pointed out that several markets began to recover starting from Q4 2020 and through 2021, as the pandemic was brought under control and travel restrictions began to ease.
