Hotels Expect Losses

JEDDAH, 28 March 2003 — Hotels are reducing their expenditure by as much as 50 percent due to a 90 percent downturn in business since the war on Iraq started. Hotels have given foreign workers extra leave without pay and stopped hiring seasonal workers, and special events are offered at discount rates to attract local customers. Sameer Al-Amri, manager of Al-Badr Hotel, told Al-Watan newspaper his hotels were operating at 10 percent capacity. He attributes the current recession in the hotel industry to the war on Iraq, which affected the hotel industry because it has close links with the airline industry. Airlines have refocused operations away from the region.