Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts has entered a management agreement with Karan Gulf Services for a new hotel within Saudi Arabia’s Wa’ad Al Shamal industrial city.

The 237-room hotel is set to be the largest hotel project in Wa’ad Al Shamal City, as well as the entire northern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The city, located about 30 kilometres from Turaif, is being developed by Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) and covers 450 square kilometres in Saudi Arabia’s Northern Frontier. It will host approximately 100,000 residents.

The city will tap into the region’s significant phosphate reserves and will support and provide extensive opportunities to many upstream and downstream industries, which have already been anchored by major global players including Saudi Aramco, SABIC and SCECO.

These companies will provide the infrastructure necessary to initiate the project and stimulate further activities relating to phosphate mining. The mineral industry is set to become the third pillar of the Kingdom’s economy after oil and petrochemical, in line with the country’s Vision 2030.

Set to open in the second half of 2018, Mövenpick Hotel Wa’ad Al Shamal, while primarily targeting the corporate market, will have a resort ambience. The property will offer three food and beverage outlets, extensive meeting and event space, male and female wellness areas as well as recreation facilities, designed to serve hotel guests, the community of Wa’ad Al Shamal and the northern region.

“We are proud to have been selected as the hotel operator for this fantastic project in the region,” said Andreas Mattmüller, Chief Operating Officer, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, Middle East and South Asia. “We firmly support the government’s vision of economic diversification. Considering the current lack of upscale accommodation, we see the development of this hotel as strategically important to the continued growth of the city. “Furthermore, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will be the first international upscale hotel in the northern region of Saudi Arabia and this new signing will consolidate our position as one of the strongest international hotel brands in the country and the Middle East.”

Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts already operates 11 hotels in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Five more projects in the country will be launched in the next three years. They are Mövenpick Residences Al Khobar, Mövenpick Hotel & Apartments Al Tahlia Jeddah, Mövenpick Hotel Financial District Riyadh, Mövenpick Hotel Heraa Jeddah and Mövenpick Hotel Wa’ad Al Shamal.