Ahead of FHS Saudi Arabia 2026, this analysis argues the Kingdom's hospitality growth is driven by economic diversification, talent mobility, and domestic demand, not tourism alone.
Wyndham's 100-hotel Super 8 signing in Saudi Arabia exemplifies how mid-market and lifestyle brands are filling a supply gap as UAE and Saudi Tourism 2030 strategies shift from luxury-led to balanced growth.
Analysis ahead of the 2026 Future Hospitality Summit explores how Saudi Arabia's young demographics and Vision 2030 are reshaping investment strategies toward franchise models and midscale properties.
Analysis explores how Saudi hospitality investment is evolving from development-focused momentum to a sophisticated market matching diverse capital types with varied opportunity segments.
The piece outlines Saudi Arabia's hospitality investment fundamentals ahead of FHS 2026, highlighting Vision 2030, mega-projects like Red Sea and Qiddiya, and regulatory reforms driving the Kingdom's emergence as a global destination.
This executive summary will provide novice hotel investors, new owners, and hotel associates new insights into hotel investments in Dubai. The hospitality industry in Dubai presents lucrative investment opportunities for business investors seeking to capitalize on the city's status as a global tourism and business hub. Investing in the hospitality industry in Dubai requires a thorough understanding of the market dynamics, the key factors that drive success as illustrated in Figure 1.0, and the challenges that investors may face.
The theme for the Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) 2023, taking place from 25-27 September at Hilton Abu Dhabi Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, is ‘Focus on investment’. The conference programme will comprise several content tracks under the main theme, including Investment, Operating Models, Innovation, the Future of Tourism and ESG. In the lead up to the event we asked several industry partners about their focus on investment in 2023 and beyond.
The role of the appointed asset manager is undeniably valuable for owners' whose properties are under the operation of a management company. The asset manager acts on behalf of the owners' interests with a core objective to optimize value and. Therefore, it is important for hotel asset management companies to remain aware of new skill sets and to be equipped with innovative practices to protect the objectives of owners. For this reason, we have been motivated to identify practices for hotel asset managers to leverage their owners' returns.
How is the concept of "luxury" perceived and what hotel brands come to mind when you hear the word "luxury"? The word carries a sense of prestige and exclusivity that only selected brands can fulfill. In today's era, this term is often overused, causing the meaning to be diluted. At the same time, as luxury becomes democratic, qualities (such as exclusivity) which had once been associated with it, have become less important to modern day customers.
We recently launched a research study "The impacts of staff turnover on a hotel's Income Statement" which revealed that a 30% voluntary staff turnover rate could cause a potential loss of AED 8 million on the top-line and AED 6 million on the bottom-line. If your hotel is experiencing high number of departing staff, it would be advisable to take a step back to review your people strategy.
Dubai Parks & Resorts (DPR), the Middle East's largest integrated theme park destination, is set to open its many gates to the public in October this year. This massive amusement park in Dubai will incorporate motiongate™ Dubai, Bollywood Parks™ Dubai, Legoland® Dubai and Legoland® Water Park. Each of these unique parks will offer guests a variety of entertainment options that have been built to international standards.
Driven by the goals set in the 2020 Vision, the country is witnessing a transformation with major mixed-used developments currently in planning or under construction. The real estate and infrastructure projects in in Oman scheduled to be completed by 2022 are estimated to be worth in excess of US$112 billion.
Opening of a resort requires special skills, knowledge, experience, wisdom, patience and perseverance. While appointing any senior position for a proposed resort, it is normal to ask a person with pre-opening experience as it is considered to be a unique experience. It is easier to operate an existing resort while opening a new resort requires lot of efforts in terms of planning, organizing, creating a team, establishing and implementation of systems, policies and procedures and making the resort up and running successfully. It involves coordination and team effort.