MARKET REPORT
Middle East headlines , but discount Africa at your own peril
SAUDI ARABIA AND DUBAI PULL THE PUBLICITY IN HOSPITALITY , BUT HOTEL PERFORMANCE IN AFRICA IS THRIVING .
Contributed by TAREQ BAGAEEN , HOTSTATS
A
s a hospitality consultant , my career has taken me across the globe , but it started in the Middle East , where , in the early stages , I traveled extensively to Saudi Arabia , a country that is now reshaping itself to become more welcoming and more open to travel and the attendant logistics and real estate that come with it .
Today , Riyadh is vastly different than how I remember it . So much so that I have a hard time comprehending the drastic changes since my first visit years ago . This has not happened haphazardly , rather by meticulous and very expensive design . This is the vision of Saudi Arabia : to mimic the success of the UAE and move away from an almost complete reliance on fossil fuels toward a more diversified economy that promotes travel and hospitality . In fact , in 2016 , the Kingdom announced a formal plan to do so called Saudi Vision 2030 .
Leisure is heavily promoted and world-class facilities to support it are rising fast . Companies wishing to do business in the Kingdom need to have a regionallevel permanent legal entity . Construction is booming with the addition of major sporting
74 hotelsmag . com September 2024