20


RELIGIOUS TOURISM | FEATURE


FIT FOR A KINGDOM


RELAXED VISA RESTRICTIONS, A FLURRY OF HOTEL OPENINGS, LARGE-SCALE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS AND GREATER EASE OF AIR TRAVEL HAVE SEEN SAUDI ARABIA’S RELIGIOUS TOURISM INDUSTRY FLOURISH


Masjid Al Haram (The Sacred Mosque), Makkah


visitors coming into the country. As there isn’t a civilian airport in Makkah, most Umrah pilgrims arrive in Jeddah by air and take the expressway to the holy city. The Hajj season sees regional airlines such as Gulf Air and Oman Air’s regular scheduled flights to Jeddah and Madinah supplemented by charter flights that land at the dedicated Hajj terminal at King Abdulaziz International Airport. As of now, national carrier


Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) and privately owned flynas are the only options for flying domestically within the country but two new airlines are in the process of obtaining licences to operate domestic and international flights from Saudi airports. Qatar Airways plans to launch


A


s the home of the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, along with


a host of other spiritual sites, it comes as no surprise that Saudi Arabia’s tourism industry is dominated by religious tourists. Such visitors arrive in the kingdom for either Umrah (a non-obligatory pilgrimage that can be performed any time of year) or Hajj (a mandatory pilgrimage that can only be performed during the 12th


month


of the Islamic calendar). Last year, visitors to the country increased 10 percent to 16.7 million, while 32 million Saudis travelled domestically, a rise of 7.5 percent. “The market is developing


fast and there is a demand for quality tourism services,” said Hamad Al Sheikh, Vice President of Marketing and Programmes at the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA). Saudi Arabia, which has the


largest economy in the Arab world, will see investment in the travel and tourism sector increase


at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of four percent to US$8.25 billion (AED30.3 billion) over a 10-year period from 2013 to 2023, according to a 2013 report by research consultancy Aranca. The number of tourists visiting Saudi Arabia is estimated to increase at a CAGR of two percent to 21.3 million over the same period, primarily due to an increase in the number of religious visitors. As a result of the influx of


visitors to the holy city – as well as the government’s efforts to promote tourism – international hotels such as InterContinental, Hyatt and Marriott are flocking to Makkah, especially as new visa rules ensure the city is open to Umrah pilgrims for longer periods of the year. The kingdom is forecast to be able to offer 343,000 hotel rooms by 2015, up from 250,000 in 2011, according to global forecaster Business Monitor International. “Developers and operators see the opportunity for new


Masjid Al Haram (The Sacred Mosque), Makkah The kingdom is forecast to be


able to offer 343,000 hotel rooms by 2015, up from 250,000 in 2011, according to global forecaster Business Monitor International


hotels across the country. The high level of liquidity and the excellent return potential are also attracting strong private-sector interest in tourism investments in the country,” said Rashid Aboobacker, Senior Consultant with TRI Hospitality Consulting. InterContinental Hotels, in partnership with Makkah Real Estate Company, is building the world’s largest Holiday Inn – with 1,238 rooms. Due to open in 2016, it will be the first Holiday Inn in the area. The hotel will be located in Al Aziziya, roughly 3.5 kilometres from Masjid Al Haram (The Sacred Mosque). This opening synchronises with the country’s focus on growing its hotel inventory of affordable, mid-level brands. “The Holiday Inn brand is all about great value and providing both comfort and quality. We are confident that this formula, which has been hugely successful elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, will be the ideal offering for religious travellers bound for Makkah each year,” said CEO of Makkah Real Estate Company, Hani Hamad Al Ghammas. Hyatt International, which


is currently in the middle of a building boom in the region, has several properties under construction in the kingdom. In the pipeline are three hotels


in Makkah, starting with a 628-room Hyatt Regency opening this year. This will be followed by Hyatt Place and Hyatt House properties. Similarly, Marriott Middle East


and Africa will add three new hotels in Makkah to its portfolio. The first, Makkah Marriott Hotel, is scheduled for opening in January 2015, followed by a JW Marriott Makkah and Courtyard by Marriott. Millennium and Copthorne


Middle East and Africa announced new hotels in the kingdom. It aims to open 20 hotels as part of a plan to operate 50 properties throughout the Middle East and Africa by 2017. Besides Makkah, the group will open hotels in major cities such as Riyadh and Madinah, as well as second-tier cities. “The market opportunity within the kingdom has increased through growing domestic travel as well as the short supply of midscale hotels and five-star hotels in second-tier cities, especially for corporate travellers and the significant and sustained growth of religious tourism,“ said Millennium and Copthorne Middle East President and CEO Ali Hamad Lakhraim Alzaabi. Airlines are also catering to the huge numbers of religious


Al Maha Airways, a domestic carrier in Saudi Arabia, by the third quarter of this year. The airline will fly between Riyadh and Jeddah using wide-body aircrafts to absorb expected demand. Dammam-based carrier Saudi Gulf Airlines, backed by the Abdul Hadi Al Qahtani Group of Companies, will also start operations by the first quarter of 2015. It will initially focus on domestic routes covering Dammam, Jeddah, Riyadh and secondary Saudi cities before expanding to regional destinations. “This is an exciting time for


the aviation industry, particularly Riyadh


when you consider that more than 54 million passengers moved through Saudi Arabia’s 27 airports last year alone,” said Sheikh Tariq Al Qahtani, Chairman of Saudi Gulf Airlines. Also contributing to Saudi


Arabia’s accessibility to and from the rest of the world is flynas, which is currently targeting 20 million passengers annually to 2020 by increasing the number of flights to its current destinations and adding several new routes in the long- haul sector. Earlier this year, it launched two weekly flights from Jeddah to Aswan facilitating access to Makkah for residents in the county’s southern province. The airline also added a third


destination to its flights between Saudi Arabia and Sudan by launching three weekly flights from Madinah to Khartoum last month. Addressing this move, Raja Azmi, CEO of flynas, said: “We already operate flights from Riyadh and Jeddah to Khartoum and now add the Madinah-Khartoum route to our services between Saudi Arabia and Sudan. This latest destination will be of great advantage to business and domestic passengers as well as benefitting pilgrims visiting the holy city.” Global Flight Routes


programme was also launched in April by flynas, offering regional travellers access from Jeddah to Europe, Asia and Africa. The new destinations include Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Casablanca. Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur are especially valuable destinations for the airline as its Hajj and Umrah division undergoes expansion throughout 2014. Overall, roughly one million people performed Hajj and Umrah last year from Indonesia and Malaysia, making both countries very significant sources of inbound tourism to Saudi Arabia.


flynas


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32