Saudi Arabia's tourist arrivals is forecast to grow by 5 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) to 12.91 million in 2010, after remaining constant in 2009 at just over 12 million, “Saudi Arabia Tourism Report Q1 2010” released by Companiesandmarkets.com said on Thursday. Furthermore, tourist arrivals will grow by an average of 6.5 percent y-o-y to the end of our forecast period in 2014, it said. One of the main drivers for the tourism industry is religious tourism. Business travel is also a growing area. The hospitality sector looks set to grow in tandem with tourist arrivals. There will be 332,000 hotel rooms in Saudi Arabia by 2014, up from 230,000 in 2008. In 2009, a plethora of international chains opened up their first hotels in the market, including Rotana, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Accor and Raffles Hotels & Resorts. Those already present in the market are expanding, with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Al Hokair Group, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Rezidor Hotel Group and Wyndham Hotel Group opening new hotels in 2010. The report also forecast that the number of citizens traveling abroad will increase from an estimated 8.07 million in 2009 to 10.82 million in 2014. International tourism expenditure is also forecast to increase, reaching $8.58 million by the end of the forecast period.
