Travel Unpacked: Saudi Arabia's tourism surge and world's first 3D-printed hotel

The National rounds up the most interesting tourism news you might have missed

Nujuma in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea resort is just one of many five-star hotels planned in the kingdom in a bid to attract more tourists. Photo: Marriott International

Saudi Arabia welcomed 73 per cent more international visitors during the first seven months of 2024 than it did during the same period last year. Elsewhere, Australian carrier Qantas has announced that it will soon be deploying a Airbus A380s to Africa for the first time, with a new Sydney-to-Johannesburg route about to begin.

Here is a round-up of recent travel and tourism news – in case you missed it.

More tourists in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia welcomed 17.5 million visitors from January to July this year. That represents a 10 per cent increase over the same period 12 months earlier and a 73 per cent rise when compared to pre-Covid numbers.

According to new data from the country's Ministry of Tourism, about 4.2 million of those travellers this year were tourists arriving specifically for leisure purposes – a 656 per cent increase since 2019. Saudi Arabia is investing in a long-term tourism strategy as part of its Vision 2030 policy and is well on track.

Meanwhile, the latest UN World Tourism Barometer report lists Saudi Arabia as the fastest-growing G20 country, marking a significant milestone in the kingdom’s rapid ascent as a global tourism destination.

World's first 3D-printed hotel takes shape in Texas

El Cosmico, a hotel and campground in Marfa, Texas, is expanding. It is building 43 new hotel units and 18 residential homes – all with a 3D printer. Texas-based 3D printing company Icon and architect group Bjarke Ingels are behind the project, which is touted as the world's first 3D-printed hotel.

“I've never been able to build with such little constraint and such fluidity … just the curves and the domes and the parabolas,” El Cosmico owner Liz Lambert told Reuters.

The first two units under construction are a three-bedroom residential space and a single-room hotel unit. The walls are 12-feet high with the boundary-pushing architecture focused on curves and arches – features that are easier to do with Icon's Vulca, a huge 3D printer spewing a special cement-based “ink” to build the structures. The El Cosmico expansion is slated for completion in 2026.

Australia's Qantas to fly Airbus A380 to South Africa

Australian carrier Qantas is set to fly Airbus A380s, the world's largest passenger aircraft, to Africa for the first time, announcing a new service between Sydney and Johannesburg six times a week. The double-decker plane effectively replaces the Boeing 787-9 on the route, allowing for more travellers per flight.

“We are seeing strong demand for our Johannesburg services and, by upgrading to the Superjumbo, we will nearly double capacity during peak periods, adding over 130,000 seats per year between the continents,” said Qantas chief executive Cam Wallace.

Qantas A380 can sit up to 485 passengers across four cabins. The airline has eight active A380s in its fleet of 10, with routes to Los Angeles, Singapore and London. The flight from Sydney to Johannesburg takes 14 hours and 40 minutes. A round-trip ticket costs about 3,000 Australian dollars for travel dates in December.

Meanwhile, the airline has also signed a codeshare agreement with South African carrier Airlink, adding its code to nine domestic routes, including Durban and Cape Town. Qantas wants to further its presence in Africa by expanding the codeshare network to other countries “over the coming months”.

China's 'golden week' to boost outbound travel

China's National Day holiday period, also called the “golden week”, from October 1 to 7 is looking extra busy this year as more tourists book international trips.

According to booking data from Fliggy, a travel platform in China, visitors are heading to countries in the Asian Pacific, from Japan and South Korea to Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. Bookings to the UAE are also noted in the data, but long-haul flights are seeing the most growth, according to Trip.com, with more bookings to countries such as Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain and the US.

Chinese travellers are also booking long stays for their golden week trip this year, averaging 10 to 14 days for those flying to Europe particularly. Data also showed that in terms of accommodation, travellers are seeking high-quality, mid-tier options, with the occasional five-star booking, especially in European cities.

Live entertainment such as concerts are a major draw for Chinese tourists too, with data showing that more than 75 per cent of travellers to Asia Pacific are millennials who are flying to Hong Kong to see John Legend and major K-pop acts Taemin and Taeyang. The Southeast Asian country alone is expected to receive as many as 1.2 million travellers from mainland China during the coming week.