HILTON Worldwide Middle East & Africa announced it has become the fastest growing hotel developer in Saudi Arabia with a programme to open 14 hotels and almost 7,000 rooms in Saudi Arabia in the next two years.
The ambitious expansion strategy represents over 17 per cent of the entire Saudi Arabian pipeline and almost 26 per cent of the rooms to be developed across the Kingdom. The programme also makes up more than one third of Hilton Worldwide’s total pipeline for MEA, currently the largest in the region at 40 properties.
Rudi Jagersbacher, president, Hilton Worldwide, Middle East & Africa said: “Saudi Arabia is a key strategic market for us and I’m pleased to note that our established Saudi pipeline will take us from six hotels to 20 in the space of two years. As a long standing hotel operator in the Kingdom, we understand the potential of the country’s tourism market and our plans have been developed in line with the expected city-based expansion as well as to support the fledgling leisure and tourism industry.”
Hilton Worldwide has enjoyed a presence in Saudi Arabia for 17 years and the company’s current portfolio is spread across the cities of Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina and Makkah with future growth to include properties in the Eastern Province areas of Al Jubail and Al Khobar. Six of the 14 pipeline hotels will be developed in Makkah, as part of the Jabal Omar development, and will help meet the increasing demand from the religious tourism sector.
Once all pipeline properties are open, all five Hilton Worldwide brands in MEA – Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn – will be represented and Saudi will be the only country in Middle East & Africa to have such cross-brand presence.