Saudi Arabia has quarantined thousands of people in hotels, some in luxury suites, to combat COVID-19, throwing a temporary lifeline to an ...
Mask-clad guests depart a hotel in the Saudi capital Riyadh, where hotels have been used to quarantine people to combat the spread of COVID-19. RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has quarantined thousands of people in hotels, some in luxury suites, to combat COVID-19, throwing a temporary lifeline to an industry struggling just months after tourist visas were launched.
One of its larger sister hotels was offered six million riyals, added the source, who requested the names of the properties be withheld because of the stigma attached to the disease."The staff had been preparing for layoffs, up to 50 per cent pay cuts or leave without pay."More than 2,800 rooms in hotels and other tourism facilities in Mecca, where usually busy streets have been emptied in the fight against COVID-19, have been reserved for quarantine cases.
This week the ministry said 11,000 rooms around the kingdom had been prepared to quarantine Saudis stranded abroad who are expected to return to the country. Despite the pressures of round-the-clock confinement, Tuwaijri - who was put up in a plush suite - said it felt like"going on a vacation". "With this, it is hitting two birds with one stone - it is also trying to save hotels and its nascent tourism industry."Saudi Arabia's hotel industry faces a sharp downturn after the kingdom launched tourist visas last September with much fanfare and ambitions to welcome 100 million visitors by 2030.
More than 138 hotel projects with 54,143 rooms were due to be unveiled in the kingdom in 2019-20, according to industry projections.
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