JEDDAH, 20 November — Despite projections of a sharp fall in the tourism industry in other parts of the world, the industry is set to register considerable growth locally, according to a leading businessman in the sector. Addressing the students of diploma course in tourism and hotel management at the King Abdul Aziz University’s College of Economy and Management, Abdul Salam Al-Kayyali, director general of the Sun Set Hotel said the industry is upbeat about its performance, because more tourists are showing increasing interest in spending their holidays in domestic locations. Underscoring the importance of the hotel industry Al-Kayyali said in Jeddah there are 11 five-star hotels with a total of 3,057 rooms while he put their occupancy rate at 66 percent. Annually 736,431 rooms are occupied while 379,374 rooms remained vacant, he said. A growing number prefer to spend the holy month of Ramadan and the Eid holidays in Jeddah, he added. He said the Sun Set hotel plans to train all outstanding students in all departments in the coming summer while offering a diploma course.
