Dubai: In anticipation of the 15.8 million visitors that are expected to flock to Saudi Arabia for religious tourism by 2014, Abdul Latif Jameel Real Estate Investment Company is investing ten billion Saudi riyals (Dh9.7 billion) to develop new hotels in Makkah.
The Saudi developer is pumping in four billion Saudi riyals to construct 8,500 new rooms in a group of hotels expected to be delivered in five years and spending six billion Saudi riyals on the land, the company announced yesterday.
The Jabal Al Kaaba project is one of several burgeoning hospitality projects in Saudi Arabia aimed at accommodating demand for rooms especially around the busy Haj season and Umrah.
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) estimates that there are approximately 600 million national and international religious and spiritual voyages in the world, of which 40 per cent take place in Europe and around half in Asia.
The UNWTO estimates that 300 to 330 million tourists visit the world's key religious sites each year. According to the Religious Conference Management Association, in 2006 more than 14.7 million people attended religious meetings (RCMA members), an increase of more than ten million from 1994 with 4.4 million attendees.
The world's largest form of mass religious tourism takes place at the annual Haj pilgrimage to Makkah.
Development plans
Latest data revealed the Saudi travel and tourism industry will grow steadily and is forecast to increase by 4.2 per cent year-on-year to reach 74.6 billion riyals in 2022 (in constant 2011 prices), the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) said. The number of religious tourism visitors to Saudi Arabia is expected to reach 15.8 million by 2014, compared to 13 million in 2010, according to the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA).
It also aims to attract 88 million visitors by 2020, in line with its plans to develop the domestic and business tourism.
Investment in Saudi Arabia's travel and tourism industry would increase by 6.7 per cent in 2012, and rise by 3.3 per cent yearly over the next ten years to 29.5 billion riyals in 2022, representing 4.5 per cent of the kingdom's total investment, the WTTC) said.
Abdul Latif Jameel Real Estate Investment Company is launching a new hospitality brand, Anjum Hotels, as the hotel operator, it said.
Anjum Makkah, the brand's flagship hotel and the first to be developed in the project, will have 1,795 rooms and will open in the first quarter of 2013 to receive guests visiting Makkah for the Haj and Umrah. The project is located in front of the Grand Mosque.
"Makkah has been witnessing a construction boom, with the implementation of major projects to cater to the needs of citizens, visitors and pilgrims," said Yousuf Abdul Latif Jameel, Chairman of Abdul Latif Jameel Real Estate Investment Company.
