Saudis to triple malls in Mecca to draw shoppers

Mecca, Sept. 24: ( Agencies) Saudi Arabia, and its developers and retailers, are set to cash in on a spending bonanza fuelled by the unique position of having a city that every able- bodied Muslim in the world must visit once in their lifetime. Helped by state investment, Mecca is set to see shopping- mall space almost triple by 2025, according to Colliers International, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

As part of a government plan to wean the economy off oil, the state aims to boost the number of foreign pilgrims to 30 million per year by 2030 from 7 million last year, realising the potential of a sector that currently makes up 20 percent of the kingdom’s non- oil economy, according to Oxford Business

Group.

The holy city is currently under- served by malls due to a shortage of plots and high costs, with many shoppers opting to head to nearby Jeddah, Colliers said in a report last week. But that’s expected to change and mall space is set to grow to 804,000 square meters ( 8.7 million square feet) by 2025. Mecca’s biggest developers are likely to construct a sizable portion of the future mall supply, it said.

The $ 9.6 billion Jabal Omar Development Co. is already taking advantage by building homes and malls as well as a project near the Grand Mosque that will include 38 hotels and some of the country’s largest malls.

As part of a government plan to wean the economy off oil, the state aims to boost the number of foreign pilgrims to 30 million per year by 2030 from 7 million last year, realising potential of sector

That’s expected to change and mall space is set to grow to 8.7 million square feet by 2025. Mecca’s biggest developers are likely to construct a sizable portion of the future mall supply