Saudi Arabia hotel occupancy rises to 49.1 per cent in Q3 2025 as tourism facilities surge

Saudi Arabia’s hotel sector recorded higher occupancy in the third quarter of 2025, alongside a sharp increase in the number of licensed tourism facilities, highlighting continued expansion across the Kingdom’s hospitality industry.

Data released by General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) shows improving hotel performance, growing employment and a rapidly expanding base of tourism establishments during the period.

According to the Tourism Establishments Statistics bulletin for Q3 2025, the hotel room occupancy rate reached 49.1 per cent, an increase of 2.9 percentage points compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024, when occupancy stood at 46.1 per cent.

In contrast, the room occupancy rate for serviced apartments and other hospitality facilities reached 57.4 per cent during Q3 2025, down from 58.0 per cent in the same period of 2024, representing a decrease of 0.6 percentage points.

The bulletin showed that the total number of licensed tourism hospitality facilities in Saudi Arabia reached 5,622 establishments during Q3 2025.

This represents an increase of 40.6 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024, when the total stood at 3,998 establishments.

Serviced apartments and other hospitality facilities accounted for 52.6 per cent of the total, with 2,955 establishments, while hotels numbered 2,667, representing 47.4 per cent of all licensed tourism hospitality facilities during the quarter.

Saudi tourism statistics

The results indicated that the average length of stay for hotel guests was approximately 4.1 nights in Q3 2025, marking a 1 per cent decrease from the corresponding quarter of 2024, when the average stay was 4.2 nights.

For guests staying in serviced apartments and other hospitality facilities, the average length of stay reached about 2.1 nights, a slight decrease of 0.2 per cent compared to Q3 2024.

The bulletin further reported that the total number of workers in tourism activities reached approximately 1,009,691 during Q3 2025.

This represents an increase of 6.4 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter of 2024, when the workforce stood at 948,629.

Saudi nationals accounted for 245,171 workers, representing 24.3 per cent of the total workforce, while non-Saudis numbered 764,520, accounting for 75.7 per cent.

In terms of gender distribution, male workers in tourism activities reached 875,658, representing 86.7 per cent of the total workforce. Female employment stood at 134,033 workers, with a participation rate of 13.3 per cent during the same period.

GASTAT said the Tourism Establishments Statistics for Q3 2025 are based on multiple sources, including administrative records, statistical surveys and secondary data, to provide comprehensive insights into tourism activity across the Kingdom.