Saudi Arabia's tourism and hospitality sector is expected to witness a 54 percent rise in the number of hotels with 25,398 rooms in the construction pipeline by 2020. The industry, which is currently worth $15 billion, is expected to be worth $65 million by 2020. It is also the second largest industry in Saudi Arabia after oil and gas. Surveys show spending in the Kingdom has risen by 6.5 percent in 2012 and this increase is expected to continue at a rate of 5.1 percent annually until 2022. Saudi Arabia and UAE remain the two largest hospitality markets in the region, and forecasts indicate that the number of tourist arrivals will grow by a year-on-year average of 6 percent until the end of 2015. In keeping with this exponential growth, the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antique (SCTA) has recently announced plans to establish a Tourism Development Company in collaboration with private sectors as well as an integral program for financing tourism projects in the Kingdom. Against this backdrop, the 5th Kingdom Hotel Expansion Summit will take place in Riyadh on May 26-27, 2013. “The Commission's participation at this event underlines our commitment to support initiatives which highlight the challenges facing hotel expansion in the Kingdom,” said Dr. Salah Al Bakheet, Vice President of SCTA for Tourism Investment and Development Sector, and a keynote speaker at the summit. “We will discuss the Kingdom's ever growing hospitality sector, highlighting the many new projects and hotel chains which are now located across the country. This comes as a result of the new regulations, hotel classification systems and censorships. In the next two years, it is expected that 233 new hotels with 85,620 rooms at a total investment of SR10,229 billion will be completed,” he added. The summit provides the ideal platform for hoteliers and international hospitality suppliers to meet in a focused environment and establish potentially lucrative business relationships. Up to 300 of the Middle East's leading hoteliers, architects, developers, consultants, government bodies, ministries, development authorities and solution providers are gathering to harness Saudi Arabia's hospitality potential. Organized by leading French business information group naseba, the summit aims to highlight the ever expanding hospitality industry in the Kingdom and the government efforts to take this sector to the next level. — SG
