French Louvre Hotels to open 31 new properties in Saudi Arabia

The new hotels will open by the end of 2025. (Supplied)
Short Url
Updated 14 April 2021
Follow

French Louvre Hotels to open 31 new properties in Saudi Arabia

  • The new additions will bring the group’s total properties in the Kingdom to 16

DUBAI: French group Louvre Hotels has announced plans to open 31 new properties across the Kingdom by 2025, as the global hospitality sector slowly emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new hotels will open by the end of 2025, the group announced, adding 6,552 rooms to its current inventory in the Kingdom.

Five of the new properties will be launched this year, with investment from private sector partners, in key destinations across Saudi Arabia:

Golden Tulip Riyadh (Phase 1: 94 rooms) and Golden Tulip Unaizah (84 rooms) were scheduled to open during Q1, and will be joined by the Tulip Inn Dammam Corniche (70 rooms), the Tulip Inn Al Balaad Madinah (150 rooms) in Q3, whil the Golden Tulip Umm Al Qurah (454 rooms) will open in Makkah during Q4.

“Saudi Arabia is a key market for our international expansion, particularly as the country places more importance on travel and tourism with such a vast array of spectacular destinations within the Kingdom,” Pierre-Frédéric Roulot, CEO of Louvre Hotels Group, said in a statement.

The new additions will bring the group’s total properties in the Kingdom to 16.


QatarEnergy announces force majeure following Iran attacks: statement

Updated 04 March 2026
Follow

QatarEnergy announces force majeure following Iran attacks: statement

DOHA: Qatar’s state-run energy firm on Wednesday declared force majeure following attacks on two of its main facilities that halted liquefied natural gas production and as Iran pressed missile and drone attacks across the Gulf.

“Further to the announcement by QatarEnergy to stop production of liquefied natural gas and associated products, QatarEnergy has declared Force Majeure to its affected buyers,” the company said in a statement.

QatarEnergy invoked the clause, which shields it from penalties and potential breach of contract claims from clients, after stopping LNG production on Monday.

Iranian drones attacked two of the company’s main production hubs in Ras Laffan Industrial City, 80 km north of Doha and in Mesaieed 40 km south of the Qatari capital, Doha’s ministry of defense said at the time.

The Gulf state is one of the world’s top liquefied natural gas producers, alongside the US, Australia and Russia.

On Tuesday, QatarEnergy said it would halt some downstream production of some products including urea, polymers, methanol, aluminum and others.

Qatar shares the world’s largest natural gas reservoir with Iran.

QatarEnergy estimates the Gulf state’s portion of the reservoir, the North Field, holds about 10 percent of the world’s known natural gas reserves.

In recent years, Qatar has inked a series of long-term LNG deals with France’s Total, Britain’s Shell, India’s Petronet, China’s Sinopec and Italy’s Eni, among others.