Hyatt Regency Jeddah in the second half of 2015, located in the city centre close to Tahliyah Square. The hotel will also feature three restaurants, two lounges and 1,700 square metres of space for events and meetings, as well as a ballroom and spa. The final addition to the Hyatt portfolio,
currently in the pipeline, is the 400-room Grand Hyatt Jeddah, which is due to open early 2016 in the city centre, with 5,700 square metres of meeting and events space, as well as a spa, fitness centre and three restaurants. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
is also working hard to place its stamp on the destination. The company has signed a long-term management agree- ment with the Al Hokair Group to open Four Points by Sheraton Mall of Arabia in Jeddah, Four Points by Sheraton Dhahran and Aloft Riyadh. The addition of these three new properties increases Starwood’s portfolio to 13 hotels in Saudi Arabia. Scheduled to open in December 2013, the
Four Points by Sheraton Mall of Arabia is in a prime location in Jeddah, less than three miles from the King Abdulaziz International Airport and just five miles from the old city. It will offer 300 spacious rooms, a busi- ness centre and more than 900 square metres of state-of-the-art conferences. Marriott International, one of the biggest
hotel groups in the world, is in the process of developing nine new properties in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Jubail. Its brands include The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Executive Apartments and Courtyard by Marriott. Another exciting update for meeting
planners is that Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has been signed to manage a new 287-room luxury hotel and convention centre just north of Riyadh, which is now scheduled to open in 2013. The Fairmont Riyadh, Business Gate, will be part of a new mixed-use develop- ment project comprising the 287-room hotel, a 4,000-square-metre convention centre and commercial real-estate space that will house multinational corporations.
THE SHOPPING SCENE Air-conditioned malls are one of the most popular places for residents and visitors to spend their time and, of course, the coun- try’s wealth has attracted top designers and quality brands from around the world. Saudi Arabia is the largest retail market
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THE CONTINUED TREND OF IMPROVING GROWTH IN PASSENGER TRAFFIC HAS ALSO BEEN ATTRIBUTED TO THE STEADY LIBERALISATION OF SAUDI’S AVIATION INDUSTRY
and one of the fastest-growing regions for consumer products, in the Middle East. The Fawaz Al Hokair Group is at the
head of one of the biggest mall networks as well as being a leader in the fashion retail market. Its mall management arm, Arabian Centres, has a network of 11 opera- tional malls, managing almost one million square metres of prime retail real estate. The malls have a combined gross leas-
able area (GLA) in excess of 700,000 square metres, about 30 percent of the total mall GLA in Saudi Arabia. The Fawaz Al Hokair Group plans to develop 12 new malls by 2014, adding more shopping complexes to
8
Saudi’s most developed cities. The company also wants to open 100 stores on average per year until 2014, through which they expect revenues to grow by 12.7 percent annually. Dubai-based MAF Shopping Malls has
taken its City Centre shopping mall brand into Saudi Arabia through a joint venture with Al Ghazzawi Group. Among the proj- ects is a SAR1.1 billion (US$293 million) shopping centre called Jeddah Riviera Mall. The 100,000-square-metre complex will host more than 300 retail outlets. The planned economic cities will
include further retail investments. The Savola Group, which currently manages 14 Saudi shopping malls, signed a memorandum of understanding for the first phase of retail development at Al Madinah’s Knowledge Economic City. This will cover more than 100,000
square metres in a deal worth SAR499 million (US$133 million) and will include a hypermarket and more than 300 stores. Furthermore, there are plans for a second phase to expand the city’s retail space by an additional 300,000 square metres. With so many opportunities on the
horizon, it’s predicted that the kingdom will continue to attract a strong interest from retail brands from across a range of categories as they respond to the fantastic opportunities presented by a young and dynamic population.
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