The annual average room occupancy of Saudi hotels surged to 63 percent in 2011 compared to 59.2 percent in 2010 — an increase of 3.8 percent, whereas occupancy rate of furnished apartment units stood at 68.3 percent compared to 54.2 percent, according to a report by the Tourism Information and Research Center (MAS), an affiliate of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA).
According to MAS data, the total number of hotels in the Kingdom as classified by the SCTA stood at 951 in 2011.
The majority of classified hotels were concentrated in Makkah province capturing some 55 percent of the total hotels, ??? followed by Madinah and the Eastern Province at 16.7 and 9.5 percent respectively. The two-star and the minimum hotels represented 65.6 percent of the total hotels in the Kingdom, while the three-star, four-star and five-star hotels represented 19.9, 9.5 and 5.1 percent respectively, the report said.
Meanwhile, the total number of furnished apartment units in the Kingdom stood at 2,026 units in 2011.
The majority of the furnished units were located in the Eastern Province representing 23.2 percent of the total units, followed by Makkah at 18.1 percent.
Third-class furnished units and less than the minimum constituted 65.4 percent of the total furnished units in the Kingdom, while second-class represented 34.2 percent of the total units, according to the report.
The highest occupancy rate in the furnished apartment units was registered at 76.8 percent in November 2011, followed by October 2011 with an average occupancy rate of 74.2 percent, the report said.
Madinah province was the best performing region in terms of hotel occupancy rates compared to other regions of the Kingdom at 69.8 percent and the bed occupancy rate at 59.6 percent, followed by the Eastern and Northern provinces by 67.8 and 67.7 percent respectively.
Riyadh province registered the highest performing region in terms of occupancy rate of apartment units, capturing 82.2 percent, followed by the Northern and Jouf provinces by 80.3 and 78 percent respectively, the report said.
According to the report, hotels comprising more than 300 rooms achieved the highest room occupancy rate of 65.8 percent, while the category of hotels containing 150 to 299 rooms achieved the highest number of sold rooms at 12,399,452.
Four-star hotels have registered the highest room occupancy rate of 65.5 percent during 2011, while two-star hotels and less than the minimum recorded the lowest room occupancy rate of 58.9 percent.
Non-Saudis were staying longer than Saudis in hotel establishments, as displayed by their respective average length of stay. Saudis are staying on an average three nights, while Non-Saudis are staying on an average 4.3 nights, the report said.
Occupancy rates of furnished units, hotels over 60%
