RIYADH: Hotels in Riyadh saw higher occupancy in June compared to May, reaching 56.5 percent, according to data released by global hospitality insight provider STR. In what is a strong indication of the sector’s rebound after the pandemic, hotels saw their average daily rates in June at SR580.61 ($154.6), while the revenue per available room, or RevPAR, was at SR328.17. “While ADR and RevPAR fell month over month, each of the three key performance metrics came in higher than the pre-pandemic comparable,” wrote STR in the report. Saudi Arabia eased COVID-19 restrictions in March, helping fuel the surge in hotel occupancy in the Kingdom’s capital. Jeddah sets record hotel occupancy Meanwhile, another STR report released a few weeks back suggested that the hotel industry in Jeddah reported its highest performance since September 2019. The report revealed that occupancy rates in Jeddah hotels touched 64 percent as the sector rebounded after the pandemic. In May, hotels in Jeddah saw their average daily rates rising to SR901.40, which helped them improve their revenue per available room to SR580.62. The report, however, added that the occupancy in May 2022 is still 6.4 percent lower compared to May 2019. The average daily rate and the RevPAR are also down 29.4 percent and 33.9 percent in May 2022, compared to the same period in 2019. Hospitality market needs $110bn to reach planned rooms In May, global property consultant Knight Frank said that the Kingdom’s hospitality market needs $110 billion to complete the planned 310,000 hotel rooms as envisioned by the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. The property consultant also claimed that Accor Group will establish its place in the Kingdom with over 28,000 rooms under management, followed by Hilton Hotels with 19,000 rooms by 2030. Golden age for Saudi hospitality In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Turab Saleem, head of hospitality, tourism and leisure consultancy at Knight Frank in the Middle East and North Africa, said that the next 10 years would be a golden age for Saudi hospitality. “You can call the coming 10 years of Saudi Arabia the golden era of its hospitality. It will not happen again in the coming years and will lay the foundation for hospitality in the long term,” said Saleem. He added that the Kingdom and Qatar are firming up their global tourism map positions.