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Religious tourism and business travel will drive growth in Saudi Arabia's tourism industry, predicted at more than six percent every year until 2013, a new report has said.

Despite the limitations of strict entrance visa regulations, the industry has strong growth potential, research company Business Monitor International said in its Q4 study on the kingdom's tourism sector.

BMI is also forecasting a rise in hotel rooms to 321,000 hotel rooms in Saudi Arabia by 2013.

BMI's report predicted that tourist arrivals to the country would "remain constant" in 2009, at just over 12 million.

But it added that it saw average growth of 6.5 percent year-on-year to the end of our forecast period in 2013.

"One of the main drivers for the tourism industry is religious tourism. In 2009, we expect concern about the spread of the H1N1 virus (swine flu) to cause a slight decline in pilgrimage numbers," the report added.

Saudi Arabia is home to two of Islam’s holiest cities, Mecca and Medina, and every year millions of Muslims
come to Mecca for hajj, the largest annual pilgrimage in the world.

BMI added: "Business travel is also a growing area, given the country’s position as the world’s largest oil exporter, not to mention its other large industries such as defence."

The research report said that the hospitality sector would grow in tandem with tourist arrivals with BMI forecasting that there will be 321,000 hotel rooms in Saudi Arabia by 2013, up from an estimated 230,000 in 2008.

In 2009 alone, a number of international chains have opened up their first hotel in the market, including Rotana, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Accor Group and Raffles Hotels & Resorts; while those already present in the market are expanding, BMI added.

Saudi authorities have said they want to diversify away from their dependence on oil, and the tourism industry has been a focal point.

As well as religious tourism, the government is also keen to develop its domestic tourism market in an effort to capture some of the capital spent by the millions of Saudi citizens that travel abroad each year.

Saudi tourists mainly travel elsewhere the Middle East.

"Despite efforts to keep more Saudis at home, we see the number of citizens travelling abroad increasing from an estimated 6.30m in 2008 to a forecast 8.53m in 2013," BMI added.

Source: Arabian Business - 12 Dec 2009

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