Makarem Hotels, the award-winning hotel brand designed by Dur Hospitality, has participated for the fourth year in a row at the World Travel Market (WTM) 2018, a landmark event that brings together the world's leading hospitality industry players, which was held in London from 5 to 7 November 2018.
Makarem Hotels' participation in this event aimed at showcasing the Kingdom as a tourist destination, highlighting the local expertise of Makarem Hotels as a leading Saudi hospitality brand and achieving its expansion strategy and objectives to enhance its position as a Saudi brand dedicated to serving the Holy Cities according to the International hospitality standards and in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which aims to increase the number of Umrah pilgrims from 8 to 30 million per year.
In this regard, Mr. Hassan Ahdab, president of hotel operations at Dur Hospitality, said, “this event offers an opportunity to meet with several tourism destinations and enables Makarem to showcase its services in the hospitality sector and highlight the status it has achieved over the years as a leading hospitality brand in the Holy cities”.
He stated, “given the steady and remarkable growth in the UK's Umrah market, Makarem Hotels understands the benefits and importance of strengthening and enhancing relationships with all Umrah agencies in the UK, in line with its strategy to expand its hotels in Madinah and Makkah and increase the number of rooms to more than 5,000 rooms by 2023”.
Mr. Ahdab added, “we strive through Makarem hotels to showcase our experience in hotel operation, making the company a trusted partner for hotel and residential units’ owners who look to our operational expertise to manage their properties and turn them into successful projects by all standards”.
He concluded by stating that “our mission at Makarem Hotels is to understand the growing needs of visitors and to achieve their aspirations by offering exceptional services with a local spirit and global standards”.
The World Travel Market 2018 coincides with the remarkable growth of the tourism sector in the Middle East, coupled with a renaissance in hotel construction, infrastructure and transportation facilities, recreational parks and major attractions, making the Middle East one of the most popular travel destinations in the world. Estimates by the United Nations World Tourism Organization indicate that the number of international tourists to the Middle East is rising steadily, with the region receiving 58.1 million tourists in 2017, an increase of 5% from the previous year.
It’s worth mentioning that this growing growth is accompanied by a steady increase in the number of arrivals to the Kingdom to perform Hajj or Umrah. The total number of pilgrims for the Hajj season this year (1439 AH) reached 2.371.675 pilgrims, including 1.758.722 pilgrims coming from outside the Kingdom, 612.953 pilgrims coming from inside the Kingdom and 88,601 pilgrims coming from European countries, which accounts for 5% of the total number of pilgrims, according to General Authority of Statistics.
