5 days ago
Hajj 2025: Saudi boosts Makkah hospitality with over 300,000 licensed rooms
The number of licensed rooms in hospitality facilities in the city of Makkah has exceeded 300,000 rooms, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Tourism announced on Sunday.
This increase marks a 41 per cent growth during the first quarter of 2025, compared to the same period in 2024, reflecting the growing demand and the Ministry's ongoing efforts to enhance tourism infrastructure ahead of the Hajj season.
As part of its preparations, the Ministry conducted more than 1,160 inspection and monitoring tours across hospitality facilities in Makkah. These inspections were aimed at ensuring the readiness of hotels and other accommodations to welcome pilgrims during the upcoming pilgrimage season.
This growth in licensed capacity is closely tied to the Ministry's broader initiatives to elevate service quality, especially in anticipation of this year's Hajj.
It can be noted that starting January 1 of this year, all hospitality establishments such as travel and tourism service providers in the Kingdom were ordered to remove any unlicensed or unauthorised facilities from their listings.
This directive applies to both local and international booking platforms.
The Ministry has also urged all hospitality operators to ensure they have obtained or renewed their licences before resuming business activities. Non-compliance with these regulations will result in severe penalties, including fines of up to 1 million riyals, potential closures of the establishments, or both. In some cases, violators could also face damage in reputation through "public shaming".
