Saudi Arabia is accelerating its bid to become one of the world’s most powerful travel destinations, with Marriott International’s latest deal to add more than 2,700 hotel rooms across key cities signaling how global hospitality giants are betting heavily on the kingdom’s tourism boom. The expansion, announced on January 14, 2026, is the latest in a wave of hotel and infrastructure investments that are reshaping the country’s visitor landscape and positioning it for rapid growth in both religious and leisure travel.

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Marriott’s New Saudi Deal Marks a Step-Change in Scale

Marriott International and Saudi hospitality group Al Qimmah Hospitality have agreed to develop over 2,700 new hotel rooms across five properties in Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah, three of the country’s most strategically important cities for inbound travel. The portfolio will span four brands: JW Marriott, Four Points by Sheraton, Element Hotels and the newer Four Points Flex by Sheraton, reflecting a push to cover both upscale and mid-market demand.

The hotels are designed to diversify Saudi Arabia’s accommodation mix beyond ultra-luxury resorts and high-end urban towers. By anchoring the agreement in a range of price points and service levels, Marriott is positioning itself to capture surging demand from religious pilgrims, regional travelers and increasingly from long-haul holidaymakers drawn by the government’s Vision 2030 reforms.

For Marriott, the latest agreement builds on more than four decades of presence in Saudi Arabia and deepens its role as one of the kingdom’s dominant hotel operators. The company already manages dozens of properties across the country and is rapidly adding to a development pipeline that now stretches from the holy cities to emerging leisure destinations such as the Red Sea coast and AlUla.

Reaching the 100-Hotel Milestone in a Fast-Growing Market

Marriott’s new Saudi rooms arrive on the heels of a milestone announced late last year: the group has now reached 100 open and pipeline hotels in the kingdom. That landmark was tied to the signing of a 1,100-room Courtyard by Marriott property in Makkah’s Masar development, a massive urban regeneration project designed to improve access and services for millions of pilgrims each year.

The 100-hotel threshold underscores both the depth of Marriott’s commitment and the scale of Saudi Arabia’s hospitality opportunity. Riyadh has emerged as the company’s largest and fastest-growing market in the country, closely followed by Jeddah, while Makkah and Madinah are seeing a surge in projects intended to accommodate the government’s ambitions to host up to 30 million pilgrims annually in coming years.

In the holy cities, Marriott is involved in some of the largest single-brand projects in its global portfolio, including a Courtyard in Makkah that is expected to become the brand’s biggest hotel worldwide, with more than 2,400 rooms. In Madinah, the company is developing multiple properties under a broader urban plan that will expand capacity and modernize visitor infrastructure around key religious sites.

Tourism Surges Past 100 Million Visitors Under Vision 2030

Marriott’s aggressive expansion is closely tied to Saudi Arabia’s rapid tourism surge. The kingdom reported that it had welcomed more than 100 million tourists in 2023, beating its initial 2030 target by seven years and prompting officials to raise the goal to 150 million annual visitors by the end of the decade. The sector’s contribution to gross domestic product has already risen from around 3 percent in 2019 to about 5 percent, with a government aim of pushing that figure to 10 percent.

International arrivals have climbed sharply since Saudi Arabia began issuing general tourist visas in 2019, complementing long-established flows of pilgrims to Makkah and Madinah. Data from international tourism bodies indicate that Saudi Arabia has led the G20 in tourism growth, buoyed by an expansive e-visa program, large-scale promotion campaigns and a slate of giga-projects designed to redefine the country’s image among global travelers.

Officials have emphasized that the 150 million visitor target includes both domestic and international tourists, with a roughly equal split envisioned between residents traveling within the country and foreign visitors flying in from abroad. To support that goal, the government and its sovereign wealth vehicles are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in airports, airlines, entertainment districts, heritage restorations and new coastal and desert destinations.

Pilgrimage Cities at the Heart of Marriott’s Room Boom

The latest Marriott deal highlights how central religious tourism remains to Saudi Arabia’s broader travel push. Makkah and Madinah are among the busiest pilgrimage destinations in the world, and Saudi planners see hospitality capacity as a critical bottleneck that must be eased if they are to expand Hajj and Umrah quotas while improving the overall guest experience.

New hotels in these cities are being integrated into master plans that include upgraded transport links, expanded pedestrian routes and modernized urban services. In Makkah, developments such as the Masar corridor are intended to funnel visitors more efficiently to the Grand Mosque, while also dispersing hotels, retail and public spaces in a way that can handle peak pilgrimage seasons more safely and comfortably.

Marriott’s portfolio in these areas increasingly spans the full spectrum of offerings, from luxury flags like JW Marriott catering to affluent pilgrims and high-spending religious tourists, to midscale and extended-stay products under the Courtyard, Four Points and Element brands. The inclusion of Four Points Flex in the most recent agreement illustrates an appetite for leaner, more flexible formats aimed at price-sensitive guests and group tours.

Beyond Luxury: A Strategic Pivot to Mid-Market Travelers

While Saudi Arabia has attracted global attention with eye-catching luxury projects along its Red Sea coastline and at futuristic developments such as NEOM, the Marriott expansion underscores an important shift: the kingdom is now investing heavily in mid- and upper-mid-range accommodation. This is essential if it is to convert visitor targets into sustainable year-round occupancy and broader economic impact.

Hotel industry analysts point out that religious travelers, regional families and budget-conscious international tourists tend to gravitate toward trusted mid-market brands that offer predictable standards without premium price tags. By broadening its Saudi portfolio to include a greater proportion of these brands, Marriott is aligning with demand patterns and hedging against over-reliance on high-end resorts.

This pivot also mirrors emerging patterns in Marriott’s global business. Although the company continues to see strong performance from luxury flags like Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis, it has been increasingly vocal about opportunities in select-service and extended-stay segments in fast-growing markets. In Saudi Arabia, that strategy dovetails with government efforts to ensure that tourism growth benefits a wide range of visitors rather than a small luxury niche.

Saudi Arabia’s Hotel Pipeline Races to Keep Up With Ambition

The Marriott announcement lands in a country already in the midst of one of the world’s most aggressive hotel-building cycles. Saudi officials have spoken of pipelines involving hundreds of thousands of new rooms by 2030, spanning everything from international chains in major cities to boutique lodges in mountain and desert locations. Global brands including Hilton, Accor, IHG and others are all competing to secure prime sites and local partners.

Competitors are pursuing similar scale. Hilton has previously announced plans tied to opening around 100 hotels in the kingdom, targeting the creation of tens of thousands of jobs, with a strong emphasis on hiring Saudi nationals. The result is an intensely competitive marketplace in which brand differentiation, service quality and localized experiences are becoming key factors in securing market share.

For Saudi policymakers, this influx of international hotel operators is more than a branding exercise. It underpins broader employment and training objectives, with the hospitality sector seen as a major generator of opportunities for young Saudis and women entering the workforce. Global chains are being encouraged to invest in local talent pipelines, management training programs and supplier ecosystems that anchor tourism more firmly in the domestic economy.

Giga-Projects, New Airlines and Events Supercharge Connectivity

Marriott’s Saudi growth cannot be separated from the wider transformation of the kingdom’s travel infrastructure. Flagship projects along the Red Sea are bringing in ultra-luxury brands and experimental eco-resorts, while destinations such as Diriyah on the outskirts of Riyadh are combining heritage restoration with high-end hospitality, retail and entertainment. Marriott, like its peers, is selectively positioning its luxury brands within these giga-projects to tap premium global demand.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia is overhauling its air connectivity. The launch of Riyadh Air, a new national carrier, alongside a comprehensive expansion of airports such as King Salman International Airport in the capital, is aimed at turning the country into a major transit and destination hub. International airlines are rolling out new routes, with non-stop flights between U.S. and Saudi cities due to start in the coming years, lowering barriers for long-haul visitors.

Major events are another pillar of the strategy. Saudi Arabia is preparing to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games and has secured the rights to stage the 2034 FIFA World Cup, among other large-scale sporting and cultural events. Each of these tournaments and festivals requires vast temporary and permanent accommodation capacity, giving hotel groups strong incentives to lock in expansion plans early.

Risks, Rewards and the Road to a New Tourism Powerhouse

Despite the bullish forecasts and a torrent of investment capital, Saudi Arabia’s tourism transformation is not without risk. The speed and scale of construction raise questions about potential oversupply in certain markets, particularly if global economic conditions soften or if geopolitical tensions weigh on travel sentiment in the region. For hotel operators like Marriott, careful phasing and disciplined asset selection will be critical to avoiding a glut of rooms that are difficult to fill outside peak seasons.

There are also softer challenges. Saudi Arabia continues to work to reshape global perceptions around its social policies and human rights record, issues that influence the travel decisions of some international visitors. Authorities have responded with social reforms, high-profile cultural events and a heavy focus on sustainability, particularly around fragile ecosystems in the Red Sea and desert regions, to reassure potential guests and partners.

For now, however, the momentum appears firmly in Saudi Arabia’s favor. International tourism bodies have repeatedly highlighted the kingdom’s outsize contribution to the global travel recovery, while private-sector commitments like Marriott’s latest 2,700-room agreement signal confidence that visitor numbers and spending will continue to climb. If current trends hold, Saudi Arabia is on track to move from a niche destination anchored in religious travel to a diversified global tourism heavyweight, with Marriott positioned as one of its most prominent hospitality gateways.