What Comes After the Giga Projects?

In the lead up to the Future Hospitality Summit Saudi Arabia 2025 taking place later this month, we asked several industry partners about the opportunities they see for the hospitaliy industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2025 and beyond.

Saudi Arabia’s giga projects, visionary in scale and bold in ambition, have captured the imagination of global investors and travelers alike. Destinations such as NEOM and the Red Sea Project are set to redefine tourism on a global scale, anchoring the Kingdom as a must-visit destination by 2030.

Yet as these flagship projects gain momentum, many developers, operators, and investors wonder what will happen next.

The answer lies in shifting from exceptional vision statements to scalable, inclusive growth developments that support national tourism goals, serve diverse market segments, and generate returns beyond the giga zones. This is where the next phase of hospitality opportunity emerges: midscale brands, lifestyle hotels, secondary cities, urban expansion, serviced living, and resort development across the country.

A Broader Canvas for Investment

While mega-projects attract international attention, Saudi Arabia’s hospitality future will be equally defined by its secondary and tertiary cities such as Abha, Taif, Tabuk, Al Ahsa and Hail, to name a few, offering more destinations rich in culture, natural beauty, and economic potential.

These cities are experiencing infrastructure uplift and welcoming a new wave of domestic and regional tourism. The appetite for midscale and upper-midscale hotels is rising, for affordable yet high-quality offerings that can serve families, pilgrims, business travelers, and digital nomads. These pillars will sustain year-round demand and community engagement, supporting Vision 2030’s goal of 150 million annual visitors by 2030.

Midscale Is the Missing Middle

Historically underrepresented, the midscale and budget segments are now emerging as the growth engine of the future. These brands strike the balance between cost-efficiency and experience-driven stays. For investors, they offer faster construction timelines, optimized operating models, and strong adaptability to new markets.

From an operator’s perspective, midscale and budget properties can be tailored to local contexts, whether a culturally inspired hotel in Taif, a business hub in Yanbu, or a lifestyle hotel on Al Khobar’s waterfront. With evolving travel preferences and budget-conscious exploration, midscale is not a compromise, it’s a catalyst.

Serviced Apartments: The Silent Giant

As Saudi Arabia becomes increasingly attractive to long-stay travelers, be it for work or extended family visits, serviced apartments are gaining traction as a resilient and profitable asset class, in fact the most attractive hospitality real estate investment model in the industry.

These developments are well-suited for key urban hubs such as Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam, as well as emerging corridors near economic zones and giga projects. They offer flexibility, privacy, and convenience features that the modern traveler increasingly values. For investors, they represent lower development cost, less operational intensity, high occupancy potential across diverse guest profiles and ultimately higher profitability margins and returns.

Resorts and Leisure Beyond the Icons

Beyond the mega-resorts, there is a vast opportunity to develop scaled-down, sustainable resort models across the Kingdom’s coastline, mountains, and desert landscapes. These resorts can deliver returns not just through tourism but through community inclusion, local hiring, and eco-conscious operations.

Urban Growth in Primary Cities

Saudi Arabia’s major cities, Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam, as well as the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah, remain core to the hospitality strategy. However, the focus is evolving from flagship luxury to mixed-use developments, lifestyle brands, and business hotels catering to the needs of a diversifying economy.

The hospitality offered in these cities is expanding to meet the needs of domestic tourism, MICE, healthcare, and education sectors that underpin consistent demand and long-term growth.

Vision, Meet Value

In the post-giga era, Saudi Arabia’s hospitality sector must evolve from iconic showcases to inclusive, accessible, and scalable development.

The future is about building where the spotlight shines, where the everyday traveler finds value, where investors see sustainable returns, and where communities feel the impact.

The Giga projects are a bold beginning. But the next chapter, which makes tourism a cornerstone of national transformation, will be written in the heart of every city, region, and traveler’s journey.

Anne Bleeker
In2 Consulting
+971 56 603 0886
The Bench