JEDDAH, 18 August 2007 — The occupancy rate at hotels and furnished apartments in Jeddah reached 100 percent on weekends and 85 percent in the weekdays when the Jeddah Summer Festival entered its 5th week, according to Chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Saleh Al-Turki.
“The present trends in the festival point to its achieving success beyond the initial expectations,” Saleh Al-Turki said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency yesterday. The current estimation is that the direct revenue from the festival will exceed SR3 billion, Turki said.
Turki attributed the festival’s success and higher occupancy rates to people flocking in large numbers from other regions in the Kingdom and Gulf countries. Turki added that the coinciding of the festival with the Umrah season was another reason for pulling huge crowds to the festival’s shopping centers.
Turki said Jeddah would have the capacity to accommodate five million tourists over the next 10 years in the light of the fast growth in hotel and furnished-apartment constructions. “This could be achieved with an addition of 120,000 rooms annually,” Turki said.
“The latest edition of the Jeddah Festival is remarkable in various counts. They include the special consideration and treatment of family tourists including the elderly,” Turki said in his statement.
The accumulating experience of the event managers, obviously, helped increase the festival’s popularity despite the emergence of various other festivals in the country, Turki said.
The chairman also said that the industry could not be viewed in terms of profits alone though a huge sum had to be spent on tourist projects. He also stressed the need for increased coordination between all the related departments besides making intense media campaign on the significance of the year-round domestic tourism. He also felt the need to rectify the deficiency in the services of information centers at the entry points to the country.
With regard to the rents and other service charges of hotels and lodges, the chairman said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry established the fees on the basis of the classification of the facilities. Any variation in those rates could be attributed to the impact of the market forces, he said.
The official added that any hotels charging higher rates could, however, be asked to show the chamber’s directives on the tariff. He urged the customers to inform the authorities if they suspect any foul play or exploitation on the part of the hotels. He advised families intending to visit the festival to book their rooms in advance so that they get lower rates. He added that the charges at the amusement centers depended on the quality of the service offered by them. The Jeddah municipal authority introduced free amusement facilities at the Corniche, he said.
