Saudi Giga Project Awards Drop to $10.6 Billion. Hotels Keep Building

Saudi Arabia has awarded just $10.6 billion in giga project contracts so far this year — down from $31.7 billion at the 2023 peak — yet its hotel pipeline grew 13% year over year to 387 projects. That gap between shrinking construction budgets and steady hotel development is the real story for owners and brands betting on the kingdom.

The figures come from MEED, a business intelligence platform, presented by Edward James, MEED's head of content and research, during a Saudi projects market webinar on Tuesday. Awards peaked at $31.7 billion in 2023, fell to $26.7 billion in 2024, then to $13.6 billion in 2025, and sit at $10.6 billion now. James attributes the decline mainly to one project: Neom, including the postponement of The Line and the Trojena ski resort.

Is the whole program retreating?

Not really, per MEED's math. Giga projects have absorbed about $117 billion in awards to date — roughly 17% of the $700 billion awarded across Saudi Arabia over the past decade. "The decline in giga project awards is not the overriding reason for a drop in project awards in the kingdom," James said. The government, he noted, has framed the program as a priority for the next 30 to 40 years.

Still, the broader market is cooling. Total Saudi contract awards dropped to $76 billion through October from $102 billion last year. Tabuk province, home to Neom, took the hardest hit. Riyadh keeps the bulk of the spending.

This year's giga awards went mostly to Qiddiya and Diriyah, both on the capital's outskirts, with smaller amounts to Rua Al Madinah and Roshn. MEED expects the next wave to start in 2027, driven by three dated anchors:

• King Salman International Airport
• Expo 2030
• Stadiums for the 2034 World Cup

What does this change for hotel developers?

For now, not much — and that's the mismatch. Saudi Arabia counted 387 hotel projects in the pipeline in the second quarter, up 13% year over year, per Lodging Econometrics. Developers are building as if the old infrastructure plan still held.

There's also a segment problem. The pipeline skews heavily luxury, while the demand signals from Expo 2030 and the World Cup point toward mid-scale rooms. Event crowds fill three- and four-star inventory, not palaces. Brands holding luxury-heavy pipelines may face a supply mix that the calendar can't fully absorb, especially if cost inflation keeps pushing project budgets.

Security adds another layer of risk. Houthi attacks on Riyadh's airport since September include an October 10 strike that killed 13 people. The airport is one of the very projects the kingdom is prioritizing for the next award wave, so sustained risk there could complicate both construction timelines and investor appetite.

The practical read for operators: watch the 2027 airport-and-stadium wave as the real demand trigger, and pressure-test luxury assumptions against what Expo and World Cup visitors will actually book.