2024-05-07T13:09:11-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150292303/saudi-arabia-plans-new-hotel-development-near-diriyah-world-heritage-site Josh Niland 2021-12-29T09:00:00-05:00 >2021-12-29T15:14:08-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/54/54a0944119ab0d1eae4e0d8bb87c78d9.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>Marriott International has announced plans to open two luxury hotels in Saudi Arabia&rsquo;s Diriyah. The properties will be located near the Unesco World Heritage site at At-Turaif, offering views of the historic town of Diriyah on the outskirts of Riyadh.</p></em><br /><br /><p>The Saudi crown prince recently <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-finalise-riyadh-2030-strategy-next-year-state-media-2021-12-28/" target="_blank">reiterated his intentions</a> to finalize the planned 2030 development strategy for <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/1113779/riyadh" target="_blank">Riyadh</a>, which would more than double the population of the country's capital backed by a public-private partnership worth approximately $500 billion at a low estimate.</p> <p>Marriott says the two hotels will be completed in 2022 and 2025 respectively. The design includes a luxury development and is part of a larger plan that would transform an eleven-square-kilometer swath of the town of Diriyah, 15 minutes outside the capital, in a mixed-use scheme promoted to be reminiscent of the typical Najdi architecture which dots the area first added to <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/6771/unesco" target="_blank">UNESCO</a>&rsquo;s list of <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/619246/world-heritage-site" target="_blank">World Heritage Sites</a> in 2010.</p>