Seera Group, a travel and tourism company, has announced an investment of over SAR1 billion in tourism for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covering promotions, distribution, infrastructure and Saudi human capital development.
This was announced by Abdullah Al-Dawood, board member and group CEO of Seera Group, at the signing of an agreement with His Excellency Ahmed Al Khateeb, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) on September 27 in Riyadh.
“Our investment highlights our commitment to build the tourism value chain of the Kingdom, as Saudi Arabia enters a new era of growth,” says Al-Dawood. “In this transformation of the tourism sector, the private sector will play a key role in enabling global visitors to experience the rich and diverse cultural heritage and modern attractions of the Kingdom.”
Seera Group has announced three broad pillars as part of the new investment: to launch a destination management company, build the mid-market hospitality sector and focus on human capital development by training Saudi youth for careers in the tourism industry.
Seera Group is investing SAR500 million in destination management services, which will develop necessary assets such as desert camps, city bus tours, unique guided tours and other tourism experiences. The Group will also develop unique itineraries in collaboration with SCTH to meet both domestic tourism and international inbound customer demand, in addition to showcasing the best of the Kingdom to the world.
To drive the development of the mid-market segment, Seera Group has already established a partnership with Choice Hotels to manage and operate medium-sized hotels, and is currently developing seven hotels in Riyadh, Jeddah and Al-Taif. The goal is to develop and operate 6,000 room keys by 2022, with Seera already investing over SAR500 million.
Accordingly, the Group has launched the Almosafer Academy to enhance Saudi national capabilities within the tourism sector and help enhance local content in addition to up-skilling young Saudis to become knowledgeable about the travel and tourism sector. The first programme was launched in September 2019.
