Saudi Arabia recorded a 63% hotel occupancy rate in the first quarter of 2025, according to data released by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) in its Tourism Establishments Statistics Publication. This marks a 2.1 percentage point increase from the same period in 2024.
However, the occupancy rate for serviced apartments and similar hospitality facilities declined to 50.7%, down 3.8 percentage points year-on-year.
The report highlighted varied pricing trends across accommodation types. While the average daily room rate for hotels decreased by 3.4% to SR477, serviced apartments experienced a 7.2% increase, with the average rate reaching SR209.
Guest behavior also showed a shift. The average length of stay in hotels during the fourth quarter of 2024 remained consistent at 4.1 nights, while serviced apartments saw a 4.5% drop in average stay duration, settling at 2.1 nights.
Tourism-related employment rose to 983,253 workers in Q1 2025—a 4.1% increase from the previous year. Of this, 243,369 were Saudi nationals (24.8%), and 739,884 were non-Saudis (75.2%). Men made up 86.8% of the workforce (853,852 individuals), while women accounted for 13.2% (129,401 individuals).
Tourism employment represented 5.4% of the total national workforce during this period, a marginal drop of 0.3 percentage points from Q1 2024. In the private sector, tourism workers accounted for 8.1% of the total, down 0.6 percentage points year-on-year.
