meet saudiarabia NEW DEVELOPMENTS 2 1
“KINGDOM TOWER WILL BE THE COMMERCIAL CENTRE OF THE NEW NORTH OF JEDDAH. THE CITY IS IN NEED OF A PROJECT OF THIS KIND AS IT WOULD ATTRACT MORE BUSINESS”
Airport, a new Cargo Village is being planned for Dammam airport and the kingdom’s fi rst private airport is currently in progress in Prince Abdul Aziz bin Mousaed Economic City. SAGIA acknowledges rail infrastructure
in Saudi Arabia is in need of “major expansion” and projects in development, it notes, are the 950-kilometre rail link between Jeddah and Damman, known as the Land Bridge Project. A Madinah to Makkah monorail is also planned. Meanwhile, investment in the road network has recently been doubled from US$13.7 billion (SAR51.4 billion) to US$27.1 billion (SAR101.5 billion) to include new road connections. Private-sector developments are also
going full steam ahead with Saudi Arabia clued up to the economic knock-on effects of building iconic structures. The highest profi le of these is
Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, which when completed in 2017, is expected to reach more than one kilometre into the sky – at least 180 metres taller than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa – and staking its claim as the world’s tallest building. The brainchild of Prince Al Waleed
bin Talal, Kingdom Tower will be part of a larger real estate development spanning 3.5 million square metres. “Kingdom Tower will be the commercial
centre of the new north of Jeddah,” says Prince Al Waleed. “This city is
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in need of a project of this kind as it would attract more business here.” Details of the Kingdom Tower interior
are under wraps, but it will boast more than 200 fl oors and the highest observation deck in the world on the 157th
level.
HOTEL HORIZONS Saudi Arabia’s country-wide infrastructure investments, relaxation of foreign investment rules and its push to boost domestic and international tourism has helped boost the number of hotels opening. Riyadh and Makkah are the prime growth markets. New hotels are also taking the
government’s meetings strategy into account with properties spanning all star rating categories – a prerequisite for attracting large congress business – and featuring substantial meetings and conference facilities. By 2017, the Saudi Commission for
Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) expects the kingdom’s venue capacity to increase by 50 percent following the building of a planned new convention centre in Jeddah and the entry of new hotels across the country. Property management consultancy
fi rm Jones Lang LaSalle estimates Riyadh’s inventory of hotel rooms will steadily grow from 8,400 in 2012 to 15,026 in 2015. Hotel supply in Jeddah, meanwhile, will climb from 11,310 in 2012 to 13,249 in 2014. There are at least 100,000 new hotel rooms in the
pipeline KSA-wide, according to a report by The Hotel Summit Saudi Arabia, with a mammoth 172 percent increase in hotel numbers predicted over the next decade. Makkah’s hotel expansion is projected
to be an additional 13,200 rooms by 2014, equating to an 18 percent hike in supply, while Madinah anticipates an injection of 5,436 rooms (a 41 percent growth rate) over the same period. Hospitality industry analyst, Guy Wilkinson, Managing Partner at Dubai-based Viability Management Consultants, says Makkah and Riyadh are within the GCC’s top fi ve fastest growing hotel markets, in fourth and fi fth place, respectively, after Abu Dhabi (in top slot) followed by Dubai and Doha. Makkah’s pipeline of new hotel chain
properties totals 25 or 15,981 keys up to 2017. The Jabal Omar complex with its 38 hotel towers and 14,000 rooms and US$2.7 billion (SAR10 billion) Jabal Al Kaaba with 8,500 rooms, is a key driver. According to the Jabal Omar
Development Company, some 28 operators have signed up to manage hotels with four top global chains – Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Starwood – claiming 8,000 keys between them. Riyadh’s chain hotel pipeline equates to
an additional 39 properties or 8,207 rooms by 2017. This compares to the current 60 hotels or 9,105 rooms currently in operation in the kingdom’s entire Central Province including Riyadh and other towns. Hilton
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