AlUla, a heritage destination of global significance in North West Saudi Arabia, will welcome two luxury hotel brands to its accommodation offer in 2020.
Accor will expand the current Ashar Resort under the Banyan Tree brand whilst the renowned boutique, experiential brand Habitas will develop a new 100-key luxury resort.
With the re-opening of its key heritage sites in October 2020 and with 200,000 years of human history and culture at the crossroads of ancient civilisations - AlUla is finally taking its rightful place as a must-visit immersive heritage destination.
The two new hotel partnerships are part of Saudi Arabia?s Vision 2030 programme which focuses on AlUla?s investment potential and sets the destination up to host an estimated 2 million visitors annually by 2035.
After an additional 47 new units have been added, Ashar Resort by Banyan Tree will have a total of 82 high-end villas, along with a luxury spa and several gourmet restaurants. This will be guided by a sensitive design that allows each villa to blend discreetly into the striking natural scenery of the Ashar valley. This area is also the location of award-winning Maraya, a multi-purpose exhibition, conference and entertainment venue, the largest mirrored structure in the world. Ashar Resort is also just 15km from the Kingdom?s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hegra.
The hotel announcements follow news last year that luxury brand Aman is building three different styles of accommodation in AlUla to be completed in 2023, and renowned Pritzker-Prize-winner Jean Nouvel is creating a state-of-the-art hotel, residence and meeting space that will literally be sculpted into the desert environment.
