The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH), has constituted a ministerial team to supervise the prices of all the accommodation facilities, including rated-star hotels, in the region.
The team includes representatives from the ministries of municipal and rural affairs, commerce and industry and Haj, an SCTNH official said Saturday. Earlier, Omar bin Abdul Aziz Al-Mubarak, director-general of the licensing department at the SCTNH, said the team held its first meeting recently and discussed the mechanism of preparing the database . In the first phase, it covers 4-and-5 star hotels as they are an important category and usually offer significant indication on the hotel performance.
He said the next phases of the project would cover the rest of the categories of hotels and other accommodation facilities.
Al-Mubarak said the price list can also be viewed on the SCTNH website in the hotels statistics segment. The upgrade in phases will provide better knowledge and boost confidence among guests and tourists in making a proper choice.
“It will help to create more transparency and credibility, as well as fair competitiveness for marketing hotel units,” he said.
Moreover, it will lead the investor to the right direction, price trends and movements in the domestic hotel market, which will further help in determining the appropriate and reasonable prices that match market conditions and identify investment operation return in each province.
The hospitality sector in the Kingdom is witnessing a phenomenal growth with tourist accommodations benefiting remarkably in terms of number of facilities, size of investment, private sector regulatory development and increased job opportunities for Saudi youth.
The quality control and licensing department team of the SCTNH also makes surprise visits of tourism facilities, including accommodations, across the Kingdom to ensure quality services and fair prices to visitors.