Saudi, UAE hotel sector recovery set for Q4 2020: Radisson

The hotel sector in Saudi Arabia and the UAE is expected to recover in the fourth quarter of 2020, said Tim Cordon, senior area vice president Middle East & Africa at Radisson Hotel Group.

The Kingdom will continue to benefit from tourism initiatives, the upcoming major projects and the local tourism sector, while the UAE will keep capitalizing on the local demand, reported Al Khaleej newspaper, citing Cordon.

Expo 2020 Dubai, which is set to begin from October 2021 through March 2022, will help increase demand for hotel reservations, said Cordon.

He indicated that the MENA region is still one of the key markets for the global development strategy adopted by Radisson, especially as the group seeks to provide the market with new hotel experiences despite the challenges it faces.

Radisson signed contracts in the second quarter of 2020 to build 15 hotels in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), in which 6 will be developed in the region, a move that reflects Radisson's ambitious five-year development plan.

Cordon expected the post-COVID-19 recovery to depend on local tourism, noting that hotels witnessed better activity in July and August that coincided with local holidays.