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Leisure & Hospitality

Leisure and hospitality news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

Leisure & Hospitality overview

Leisure & Hospitality news

A Lulu store. Revenue in Saudi Arabia jumped by 10 percent year on year, primarily driven by new store openings in the last 12 months

Lulu profit and revenue up as online sales grow by quarter

Net profit of Lulu Retail, the largest grocery retailer in the GCC, increased in the first quarter of 2025, supported by higher online sales. Net profit grew 16 percent year on year to $70 million, with net profit margin rising to 3 percent, up 25 basis points annually, the retailer said in a statement published […]

Tourist balloons in Cappadocia. “Turkey for us is a priority partner across the board," said the British envoy to Turkey

Turkey could receive 5 million UK tourists this year

More visitors from the UK are expected to visit Turkey this year, thanks to the long summer season and the expansion of Antalya airport. British tourists could reach 5 million this year, British envoy to Ankara Jill Morris told the state-run Anadolu Agency. She said the number of UK visitors rose from 3.3 million in […]

Spinneys said transaction volume rose by 7.8 percent year on year to 9.9 million, indicating surging customer demand

Spinneys targets expansion in UAE and Saudi Arabia

Supermarket operator Spinneys plans to expand its network further in the UAE and Saudi Arabia this year as online sales and a bigger spend per customer drove revenue in the first quarter of the year. The top line rose 11.3 percent year on year to AED906 million ($247 million) in the first three months of 2025. Like-for-like […]

The textile souk in Dubai. Many retailers have been relying on aggressive discounting to attract customers

Dollar rebound offers little relief to UAE retailers

The dollar has jumped in the past 24 hours but it is still trading at around an eight-month low, at least against the euro. For Gulf oil producers, most of whose currencies are pegged to the US currency, the weaker dollar poses a challenge. “The dollar has been part of the collateral damage as investors […]

When fully operational, Red Sea Global's airport will have a peak capacity of 900 passengers an hour

Red Sea Global’s airport ‘racing towards completion’

Red Sea International Airport will be “fully operational” within “a couple of months”, according to an executive at Red Sea Global. The airport “is racing towards completion”, said Ben Edwards, group head of cost, commercial and procurement at the Saudi resort developer.  “We’re gradually seeing the network of flight operations increasing as the demand in […]

Al Haram Mosque and Kaaba, Mecca. With Saudi Arabia aiming for 150 million tourist visits by 2030, Best Western is expanding to service increasing demand, including religious travellers

Best Western Hotels to increase Saudi footprint

Best Western Hotels and Resorts plans to increase more than six-fold the number of hotels it operates in Saudi Arabia to tap a growing market in domestic and international business and leisure travel, the Arizona-based company said. BWH currently runs seven hotels, has 21 under development and is targeting as many as 45 by the […]

Talabat was listed on the DFM in December 2024, raising $2 billion

Ramadan sales support Talabat’s top-line growth

Talabat, the Dubai-listed online food ordering and delivery company, said its top line rose more than a quarter in the first three months of this year, supported by growth in the grocery and retail segments during the holy month of Ramadan. Net profit nearly tripled to $103 million in January to March period from $24 […]

Emarat petrol station in Dubai City. Emarat is teaming up with Crypto.com to offer cryptocurrency payment options at their service stations

Emarat customers can soon use crypto to pay for gas

Customers at some of Emarat’s service stations across the UAE will soon have the option to pay for their gas and snacks in cryptocurrencies. Emarat has partnered with UAE crypto trading platform Crypto.com to allow merchants to use cryptocurrencies at their checkouts, the company announced on LinkedIn this week. Initially, 10 service stations will be […]

Taif and Abha in Saudi Arabia account for 23% of all visitor numbers in the country

Saudi smaller cities could give best return on investments

Growth in the hospitality sector of the Middle East and North Africa has outpaced that of other regions, driven by expansion in Saudi Arabia’s tourism market. The kingdom, which has increased its annual tourism target from 100 million to 150 million visitors by 2030, is undertaking a country-wide $110 billion dollar investment drive.  While the […]

Wynn says its businesses in Macau are 'holding up quite well'

Wynn says UAE casino on track despite delays to US projects

Wynn Resorts has said its $5 billion integrated resort in the UAE is progressing on schedule, even as the Las Vegas casino operator delays hundreds of millions of dollars in other projects due to rising construction costs linked to new Trump tariffs.` While gambling remains prohibited under UAE federal law, the 47-storey resort on Al […]

Cars navigate the winding roads of the Aseer mountains. Most visitors hail from the GCC but Saudi Arabia hopes to increase the number of international tourists

Riyadh wants the world to visit the ‘Arabian Highlands’ of Aseer

The streets of Abha become festooned with lilacs and mauves throughout May, when the city’s 25,000 jacaranda trees come into bloom. Pockets of purple burst throughout the hilltop capital of the southern province of Aseer, bringing an increasing number of tourists.  Aseer’s botanical diversity has helped it become the fastest growing tourism prospect in Saudi […]

Flower, Flower Arrangement, Flower Bouquet

Uber enters Turkey’s food delivery sector with $700m buyout

Uber Technologies will foray into Turkey’s food delivery sector as part of its expansion plans. The company has agreed to acquire an 85 percent stake in Alibaba-backed Trendyol Group’s Go online meal and grocery delivery business in Turkey for $700 million. The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2025 following regulatory […]

Rory McIlroy tees off during the final round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans golf tournament. Abu Dhabi's Lunate will invest in McIlroy's TPG Sports

Abu Dhabi doubles down on global sports investment

Manchester City may have lost its grip on the English Premier League title this season, but Abu Dhabi has no intention of relinquishing its power in the sporting sphere. The emirate has unveiled two major deals this month that underscore a strategic push to remain a dominant player in the fast-evolving sports business, even as […]

Karim Zidane, Morocco’s minister of investment, said the country 'offers incentives that can reach up to 30 percent of the total investment amount'

Tax incentives for Morocco stadium construction bids

Morocco is offering tax incentives of up to 30 percent, as it looks to attract private sector partners for large scale projects such as the infrastructure needed ahead of its co-hosting of the World Cup in 2030. “Morocco offers incentives that can reach up to 30 percent of the total investment amount,” Karim Zidane, Morocco’s […]

UAE hotel revenue grew by a modest 3 percent to AED45 billion in 2024, suggesting hoteliers are absorbing increasing operational costs

UAE hotels absorb rising costs at expense of profit

Many UAE hoteliers are reluctant to raise prices to compensate for rising operational costs, even as intensifying global competition and geopolitical volatility tighten profit margins. According to data from CBRE Middle East, growth in UAE hotel revenue per available room (RevPAR) has slowed over the last two years, from 6 percent in 2023 to 3 […]

People stroll past multiple casinos on the famous boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The US state and the UAE are focusing on 'cybersecurity and consumer protections'

New Jersey and UAE gaming regulators sign agreement

The US state of New Jersey, home to Atlantic City’s casino resorts, signed a landmark agreement this week with the UAE’s gaming regulator. The agreement comes as MGM Resorts International, a major Las Vegas casino operator, held meetings about its upcoming projects in the emirates. The memorandum of understanding was signed in Abu Dhabi on […]

Hotel giant HWI will introduce multiple brands, including the renowned Steigenberger, to Saudi Arabia's growing tourism sector

H World International plans Saudi hotels development

H World International, a major hotel developer, will open multiple new properties in Saudi Arabia, including a branch of its 95-year-old Steigenberger brand. “We are about to announce much more development in Saudi Arabia, specifically around Riyadh,” said Siegfried Nierhaus, the hotelier’s Dubai-based vice president and head of development for the Middle East, India and […]

Saudi Arabia is prioritising tourism investment across the whole kingdom to achieve its ambitious goal of 70 million overseas visitors by 2030

‘Tourism is the new oil’, says man trying to bring 150 million people to Saudi

Investment in tourism will remain a priority in Saudi Arabia despite falling oil prices and increased budgetary pressures, according to the kingdom’s top industry official. The underserved three-star and four-star hotel sector is a particular focus, Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO of the Saudi Tourism Authority, told AGBI.  “The darker it gets, the more reason we should […]

Amira Sajwani, managing director of sales and development of DAMAC Properties with Jason Gannon, president and COO of Chelsea Football Club

Dubai scores football-themed homes in Chelsea Residences

Chelsea fans finally have something to celebrate: Dubai’s first football-themed development will wear the blue of the famous west London club. As part of a new partnership between Chelsea FC and Damac Properties, the Dubai-based property developer will build a Chelsea-themed real estate project in the emirate. Chelsea Residences “will be built with Chelsea Football […]