Jakarta (Indonesia Window) - As many as 65.8 percent of hotels of various classes in Saudi Arabia are located in the Makkah region, according to the Saudi Gazette report.

The number of hotels of various categories in the kingdom reached 2,621 in 2019, an increase of nine percent, according to the latest data from the Saudi Ministry of Tourism and its Tourism Information Research (MAS) Center.

The Madinah region comes next to Makkah representing 17.2 percent followed by Riyadh and the Eastern Province accounting for 4.6 percent of all hotels in the kingdom.

The number of furnished residential units in Saudi Arabia reached about 5,660 by the end of 2019.

The Riyadh region ranks first in the number of furnished units with 27.8 percent and followed by Makkah 22.4 percent and the Eastern Province with 11.4 percent.

The volume of spending on domestic tourism trips last year amounted to about 52.7 billion Saudi riyals (some 14.05 billion U.S. dollars), increased by 9.6 percent compared to that in 2018 of 48.1 billion Saudi riyals (some 12.8 billion U.S. dollars).

The volume of spending on inbound tourism trips hit almost double of this spending, to reach 100.8 billion Saudi riyals (about 26.8 billion U.S. dollars) last year, compared to about 93.5 billion Saudi riyals in 2018, an increase of 7.8 percent.

The recent statistical figures released by the Ministry of Tourism showed a remarkable increase in spending on inbound tourism trips and these include the increase in spending for other purposes by 13 percent, for the purpose of work by 11.3 percent; visiting relatives and friends by 9.8 percent; religious purposes by 7 percent.

The volume of spending on outbound tourist trips last year amounted to about 70 billion Saudi riyals (some 18.6 billion U.S. dollars), compared to about 75.2 billion Saudi riyals (some 20.05 U.S. dollars) in 2018, recording a drop of seven percent.

There has been an increase in spending on domestic tourism trips, with an increase in spending for religious purposes by 40.7 percent, while the increase for the purpose of holidays is 12.5 percent and work is four percent.

Meanwhile, the spending for purpose of visiting relatives and friends decreased by 10.9 percent, and for other purposes declined by 14.1 percent.

Reporting by Indonesia Window