DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s focus on tourism as one avenue to diversify the Kingdom away from oil dependence is receiving a boost with a slew of hotel projects now under construction.
Industry monitor STR, in its latest update on the Middle East and Africa hotel sector, said that projects now being undertaken in Makkah and Riyadh would add almost 30,000 rooms to the current supply.
In Riyadh, a total 6,290 hotel rooms are now being built to complement the 13,104 rooms in inventory while in Makkah about 23,307 are now in construction, which will add to the 32,377 rooms already in the market.
In other Gulf areas, current hotel projects in Dubai would add 36,394 rooms to the 97,736 rooms in supply while in Abu Dhabi about 4,064 rooms are now being constructed to boost the 26,678 rooms available to clients.
STR also noted that 333 properties are under construction in the wider Middle East region, comprising 105,037 hotel rooms while 146 projects are being implemented in Africa, equivalent to 26,030 rooms.
Meanwhile, STR said that the revenue per available room (RevPAR) and average daily rate (ADR) of Jeddah hotels slightly dipped in January despite an increase in demand during the month.
The ADR was 2.4 percent lower to SR732.33 while RevPAR slipped 2.1 percent to 370.33 on an industry occupancy rate of 50.6%. RevPAR, a key hotel industry performance indicator, is obtained by multiplying a hotel’s ADR by its occupancy rate.
“The month’s high demand growth figure was boosted by the school holiday during the middle of January,” STR said in its report.
Hotel room availability in Jeddah was up 11.7 percent in January, while demand grew at a faster 12.1 percent rate.
Makkah, Riyadh projects to add almost 30,000 rooms in Saudi hotel market
Makkah, Riyadh projects to add almost 30,000 rooms in Saudi hotel market
Savola Group profit falls 91% to $232m, board proposes $2.66m dividend
RIYADH: Saudi strategic investment holding firm Savola Group reported a net profit of SR874.5 million ($232 million) in 2025, down 91.23 percent from a year earlier, as the absence of one-off gains recorded in 2024 weighed on earnings.
According to a statement on Saudi Exchange, the decrease was primarily attributed to several non-recurring items recorded in 2024, as well as segment-level performance variations.
The decline in net profit was largely due to the absence of a one-off gain recorded in 2024 from the distribution of Savola Group’s 34.52 percent stake in Almarai Co. to eligible shareholders, valued at SR11.3 billion after a SR288 million zakat charge, the filing said.
Earnings were also affected by a lower contribution from associates following the absence of profit from the previously distributed Almarai investment, which had added SR782 million in 2024.
The statement said profit in the retail segment fell to SR115 million from SR154 million, mainly due to higher operating expenses linked to new store openings and continued investment in the CXR program. The decline was also attributed to the absence of a one-off SR16 million provision reversal on aged receivables recorded in 2024.
Operating expenses also increased in 2025 due to the consolidation of United Sugar Co. of Egypt, which had been accounted for as an associate in 2024.
Savola, which has a strong presence in the food and retail sectors across the Middle East and North Africa, also announced the board’s recommendation to distribute SR510 million in cash dividends for 2025.
A separate filing showed that the total number of shares eligible for dividends amounted to 300 million, with a dividend of SR1.7 per share. The statement added that dividends represent 17 percent of the share’s par value.
“These distributions are in line with the Group’s announced dividends policy, which is to distribute cash dividends of approximately 50 percent to 60 percent of the net profit generated during the fiscal year,” the Tadawul statement said.
Savola’s share rose about 9.2 percent during the day’s trading session on the Tadawul All Share Index, reaching SR23.93, after the company reported fourth-quarter profit above average market expectations.
