Millennium & Copthorne increases KSA pipeline
Millennium & Copthorne Middle East and Africa continues with its Saudi Arabia expansion and announced the signing of two new hotels in the Holy City of Makkah.
The agreement was signed with Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Investments (part of Awqaf Sulaiman Bin Abdulaziz Al Rajhi). The agreement means Millennium & Copthorne has signed 10 hotels in the Kingdom within the past six months. The group has announced that it is on track to meet its target of 10,000 keys by 2020.
Due to open in 2017, the 822-key Millennium Hotel and 502-key Copthorne Hotel will both be located in the south eastern boundary of the Holy City of Makkah.
Situated near to many important religious sites, the hotels will serve the growing number of religious tourists in the Kingdom, which are expected to rise from 17.5 million to between 25 and 30 million in 2025.
Ali Hamad Lakhraim Alzaabi, president & CEO, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels MEA said: “We are delighted to announce this agreement as a strategic partner in this project with Al Rajhi Investments, one of the most respected companies in the region. This agreement marks the beginning of what we believe will be a long and fruitful relationship with Al Rajhi Investments. We are further delighted to underline our commitment to bringing international hospitality standards to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
Khalid Saud Abuhaimed, CEO, Al Rajhi Investments added: “We are very pleased to have Millennium & Copthorne as one of our trusted hospitality partners. We believe their international hospitality experience will deliver quality branded hotels. We have witnessed an increase in demand from religious tourists looking for hotels with international hospitality standards and we are confident that this partnership will help support this growth.”
Alzaabi added “Whilst Saudi Arabia is continuing to position itself as a business and in select locations a leisure destination, religious tourism is fueling the country’s growth in the hospitality sector. By working with Al Rajhi Investments, we are in a strong position to meet the needs of this sector by offering global expertise alongside an understanding of the local market. We currently have a number of properties under construction in the Kingdom and our strategic expansion plan extends across the entire country, with hotels due to open in the North, South and Western Provinces.”
The move shortly follows the signing of four hotels in Knowledge Economic City (KEC) in Madinah last month and is part of Millennium & Copthorne’s strategy to open over 20 hotels in the Kingdom within the next five years and 100 hotels across the Middle East by 2020.