Fairmont hotels will be expanding in Saudi Arabia, adding up to six hotels by the end of 2012, revealed vice president and managing director of Makkah Fairmont Raffles Hotels International (FRHI), Mohammed Arkobi.
“We think by the end of 2012 we will have another five or six hotels hopefully. They will be all around the Kingdom, everywhere — Riyadh, Jeddah, the Eastern Province, a lot of places. We are talking to the owners and negotiating things and hopefully we can do more, and I think we are there hopefully, so in my opinion we will have five to six hotels in Saudi Arabia by 2012,” explained Arkobi.
“For the hotels opening in other cities, they will be predominantly business hotels, so we have the hotels which will attract religious tourists in Makkah, but the other cities, they are business cities,” he added.
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The announcement comes following the recent opening of the long-anticipated Raffles Makkah Palace and Makkah Clock Royal Tower, a Fairmont hotel.
The interest in expanding in Saudi Arabia is not limited to Fairmont — many hotel brands are looking to strengthen their presence in the country and, according to Arkobi, it is an excellent prospect for hotels to consider.
“I think we agree that the economy of Saudi Arabia is one of the strongest economies worldwide, and in my opinion the Saudi government took the immediate action [when the recession hit] to resist and solve those problems from day one,” he said.
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