JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia's tourism industry has strong growth potential, with tourist arrivals seen to grow by an average of 6.7 percent y-o-y by 2014, researchandmarkets.com said in “Saudi Arabia Tourism Report Q4 2010” released Wednesday. It said BMI forecast that tourist arrivals to the Kingdom will 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. It also forecast that the number of tourist arrivals will grow by an average of 6.7 percent y-o-y to the end of our forecast period in 2014. One of the main drivers for the tourism industry is religious tourism. Business travel is a growing area, too, given Saudi Arabia's status as the world's largest oil exporter, not to mention its other large industries. The Saudi hospitality sector looks set to grow in tandem with tourist arrivals. BMI forecast that there will be 319,000 hotel rooms in Saudi Arabia by 2014, up from 218,000 in 2009. In 2009, a number of international chains opened their first hotels in the market, including Rotana, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Accor and Raffles Hotels & Resorts. Meanwhile, the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities recently held a week-long training course titled “Tourist Guide Skills” to develop the skills of tourist guides. The course emphasized the application of standards contained in the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations.
