Project to boost religious tourism
Saudis to spend 10b riyals to develop new hotels in Makkah to accommodate more visitors
By Deena Kamel Yousef, Staff Reporter
Published: 00:00 April 30, 2012
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.
http://gulfnews.com/business/investment/project-to-boost-religious-tourism-1.1015490
Ten billion Saudi riyals equals about $2,666,380,000.
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