Tag Archives: Knight Frank

Middle East region will become the tourism powerhouse by 2030 as the region will have almost half a million keys by 2030, shared Turab Saleem Partner – Head of Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure Advisory – MENA Knight Frank At an exclusive interview with TravelTV Middle East at the Future Hospitality Summit in Saudi Arabia. “It started off with Dubai leading followed by Qatar, Abu Dhabi and now Saudi Arabia in terms of hotel rooms. Travellers will have more options to select from the whole of Arabia with the GCC countries which will have a total of one million keys by 2030, making it a tourism hub.” Currently there are 320,000 keys in the pipeline in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and if you take the whole region the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait will also have additional keys which will make the Middle East region as the powerhouse of tourism. With the ease of visa to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it has become a hub for international travel. The government has invested in infrastructure as well as talent, as they have partnered with various international universities to provide the education necessary to develop the talent of the industry.  Saleem further pointed out that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s main goal was to diversify the non-oil sector by 2030 to add 10% to the GDP, and they are in the right direction going towards the goal as already 4% has been added to GDP by the end of last year.

The cities of Abha and Taif have been named as the favourite domestic holiday destinations for Saudi nationals, according to global property consultant Knight Frank’s flagship 2023 Saudi Report. In its survey of 498 Saudi-national households, carried out in partnership with YouGov, Knight Frank has found that Saudi nationals not only travel within the Kingdom on a high frequency, but some are being put off by high costs, which will be significant hurdle to overcome if the Kingdom’s tourism strategy is to be successfully achieved. The rapid expansion of hospitality-linked offerings across the country is expected to play a critical role in boosting domestic tourism, which Knight Frank forecasts will form a key part of the future of the Kingdom’s hospitality landscape and is already a thriving industry. Faisal Durrani, Partner – Head of Middle East Research explained: “For domestic tourism to flourish in the Saudi Arabia, care and attention must be paid to the development of attractions in secondary and tertiary cities if they are to compete and thrive alongside all the new giga project hospitality offerings. Furthermore, with 28% of Gen Z Saudi’s highlighting high costs (as a barrier to domestic travel, there remains an opportunity to develop more cost-effective accommodation options. “Think luxury glamping sites, youth hostels, 3* hotels, which will form just 17% of total hotel room supply by 2030, noting of course cultural sensitivities and adaptations that may be required”. With 100 million visitors expected to pass through the Kingdom’s gateways by 2030, the volume of real estate projects linked to the hospitality, tourism and entertainment sectors is unsurprisingly soaring, says Knight Frank. The tourism and hospitality sector is quietly being positioned as one of …

Knight Frank Middle East announced a collaboration with Pan Kingdom Holding Saudi Arabia to focus on Asset Management Project for a newly constructed 2,000 room hotel in Makkah. Turab Saleem, Partner & Head of Hospitality at Knight Frank MENA, expressed excitement for the collaboration, stating that with 20 years of Asset Management experience in the region, Knight Frank Middle East is eager to contribute to the success of the project. The collaboration will see Knight Frank not only overseeing the hotel project but also providing expertise in brand development and business planning for Pan Kingdom’s growing hospitality portfolio. The partnership aims to cultivate new hotel assets in the Kingdom in alignment with the 2030 vision.

Gallery Suites Vacation Rentals, a subsidiary of the UAE-based IBC Group,  has joined hands with OYO Rooms for a deal valued at US $5 billion (Dh18 billion) to furnish and manage 10,000 premier holiday homes in Dubai. The partnership will manage a portfolio of elite properties in Dubai as uniquely furnished holiday homes that address a growing demand for exceptional short-term rental experiences in the Emirati city. According to a report released by Skift Research, the cumulative bookings market for short-term rentals will rise to an estimated $115 billion in 2019, up seven per cent  from about $107 billion in 2018. Gallery Suites and OYO Rooms seek to emerge as the service providers of choice for the exclusive end of this burgeoning market in Dubai. The properties being furnished and managed by the partnership are focused within locations rated ‘high’ in the ‘occupancy heat map’ used to illustrate demand, in the recent ‘Dubai Holiday Homes Market Review 2019’ report released by Knight Frank – including the Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah and other exclusive addresses in the city. The alliance between the two heavyweights comes at an opportune time. Globally, travellers are increasingly seeking out the ‘home away from home’ experience that short-term leasing offers, while aspiring to affordable luxury. The partnership aims to offer a rich pool of high-quality holiday homes, in high-price locations, at affordable rates, to the international travellers visiting Dubai.