Luxurious hotel brand Habitas has secured funding worth $400 million from Saudi Arabia, which could help its expansion across the kingdom and attract more tourists.

The Saudi Tourism Development Fund (TDF) has introduced a ‘Habitas Fund’, Bloomberg reported.

Habitas was launched in 2016 by British entrepreneur Oliver Ripley and his partners, espousing sustainability and local community empowerment as its core values. The brand aggressively expanded in 2021, opening new hotels in Mexico, Namibia and Saudi Arabia.

"Habitas plans to have as many as six new properties in the kingdom. The details aren’t finalized, but sites could range from the Red Sea coast to the inland capital of Riyadh," Bloomberg reported. 

Habitas AlUla started in November 2021, following the signing of a new partnership between Habitas and The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU).

Saudi Arabia's TDF was set up in June 2020 to empower the industry. With $4 billion in capital, TDF aims to facilitate local and international investors’ access to high-potential tourism investments across key destinations in the Kingdom.

(Writing by Seban Scaria; editing by Daniel Luiz)

(seban.scaria@lseg.com)