Shaimaa Al-Qurashi & Ahmed Awadah - Khuyut
On a high hill overlooking the city of Sana’a from the direction of "Noqum" Mountain, stands one of the most luxurious five-star hotels, now abandoned in Yemen: Movenpick Hotel. It is well-known to most Yemenis. Since late 2015, the hotel has been deserted, with its doors locked, after once being filled with tourists, businessmen, and diplomats from both Arab and foreign countries. It was a place for conferences and seminars, buzzing with activity.
The Movenpick is no different from dozens of other hotels across Yemen, except for its symbolic role as a witness summarizing the state of isolation the country has faced since the outbreak of armed conflict in the fall of 2015. It marks the end of an era, which Yemenis nostalgically refer to - whether truthfully or figuratively - as the "good old days."
The data we gathered from official sources and field research reveal that 120 out of 433 hotels in Sana’a (most of which are modest hotels) have completely ceased operations between 2015 and 2024. Of these, 64 hotels sustained varying degrees of damage from airstrikes by the Saudi-UAE led coalition after 2015.
Meanwhile, 49 hotels adopted a new business model, renting out their rooms as residential apartments, due to the sharp decline in guest numbers. Examples include: Al-Rayan, Al-Yamama, Al-Sayyad, Marselia, and Al-Sahat, among others.
Amin Ma’woda, Director of "Ma’woda Real Estate" office in Sana’a, tells "Khuyut": "We frequently receive calls from hotel owners wishing to sell their entire hotel or individual residential units. Some are looking for tenants. Most of these hotels are in popular areas or busy streets."
Ma’woda attributes this shift to the gap between operational costs borne by hotel owners and the low number of guests, sometimes no more than one (just renting a single room). "Therefore, they resort to converting their hotels (buildings) into residential apartments to salvage the situation," he adds.
This conclusion is echoed by Tariq Al-Juma’ie, a real estate broker at the Al-Rayan office in Sana’a, pointing to the growing trend of selling hotel buildings as residential units. He explains that this approach works well when it’s difficult to find a buyer for the entire property. He adds: "Just last week, a doctor contacted me wishing to sell a hotel she inherited on Taiz Street (south of Sana’a) as residential apartments due to the lack of guests."
Al-Juma’ie notes that despite the ongoing flow of Yemenis coming to Sana’a from various provinces for medical treatment or studies, they prefer to rent an apartment instead of staying in a hotel, even for short durations. "Many people from different provinces contact me, looking to rent one or two rooms to take care of their affairs in Sana’a. This is mainly due to their inability to afford hotel expenses, especially with the deteriorating financial situation of Yemenis," says Al-Juma’ie to "Khuyut."
Taiz: A Similar Case
The next research stop was Taiz, specifically in the areas under the control of the internationally recognized Yemeni government. The changes in the general situation, including living conditions, security, and the repercussions of the war, are not much different from the situation in Sana’a.
Taiz has 36 hotels, with 32 currently operational and four still closed: Saba, Al-Salam, Al-Nasr, and Shamsan.
A document obtained by "Kuyut" from the Tourism Office in Taiz reveals that 20 of these hotels have sustained varying degrees of damage during the war.
Mayson Al-Najashi, Director of the Tourism Office in Taiz, tells "Khuyut": "Some of these hotels have been converted into residential apartments or are being sold, but we at the Tourism Office have not yet documented the exact number of such hotels."
When researching records from the National Center for Planning and Monitoring in Taiz regarding new hotel construction, it was found that there have been no permits issued for hotel construction in 2023, with a total of 354 permits for residential buildings and 33 for commercial buildings. This indicates a stagnation in the hotel sector in Taiz, similar to the situation in Sana’a and other cities.
A Sector Wobbling Under Pressure from Transformations
The political and military divisions, particularly the shutdown of Sana’a International Airport for several years and the rise of the Al-Wadi’a crossing, replacing the Haradh border post as the most significant land border crossing, have created a new, emergency reality. This has led to some exceptions, such as the significant hotel sector revival in cities like Aden and Marib, which witnessed a noticeable recovery that would not have happened without the realities forced by the war, in stark contrast to the situation in other Yemeni provinces, particularly in the capital Sana’a, which has borne the brunt of the war's impact on its hotel and tourism infrastructure.
The last comprehensive survey conducted by the Yemeni Ministry of Tourism—before it split into two ministries—was in 2010, showing nearly 1,479 hotels across Yemen's governorates, varying in class and service levels.
Bassam Mahdi, an administrative official at the Ministry of Tourism in Sana’a, attributes the suspension of updated surveys on hotels to a lack of financial liquidity to cover the costs of mapping out which hotels are out of service or converted into residential buildings.
Currently, there is no accurate or updated census of the total number of hotels that have ceased operations or been damaged across Yemen’s governorates, except for a detailed report compiled by the Environment and Tourism Committee in Sana’a in 2021. This report estimated that approximately 252 hotels had sustained damage during the period from 2015 to 2021.
While this official number may seem reasonable (if accounting for light to moderate damage), the highest documented number "Khuyut" could verify by name and location for affected hotels across Yemen did not exceed 130.
Economic Bleeding and Hundreds of Unemployed
The armed conflict in Yemen has led to a halt in the influx of tourists. The tourism sector, once a vital contributor to foreign currency and a provider of tens of thousands of jobs in the hotel and tourism sectors, has been devastated.
According to statistics from the Yemeni Ministry of Tourism, international tourism revenue in 2014 amounted to $937 million, with a slight decline of $3 million (0.3%) compared to 2013. Before the war, it was planned that by the end of 2015, tourism revenue would increase to $1,056 million (equivalent to 60% of non-oil exports and 2% of GDP), with 1.487 million tourists arriving. However, none of these projections came to pass as the war destroyed everything.
A statement from the Ministry of Tourism and the Tourism Promotion Council in Sana’a revealed that losses in the tourism sector from 2015 to 2021 exceeded $745 million, and 95% of employees in the various tourism sectors were laid off. These workers supported over half a million people across the provinces, averaging four people per family.
Internally, Yemen has witnessed one of the worst humanitarian, economic, and living crises globally in recent years, according to the United Nations. As a result, Yemen's per capita GDP shrank by 52% between 2015 and 2022, according to the World Bank.
Thus, it was natural for domestic tourism and hotel occupancy to decline, as many hotels, with their meager operations, were unable to cover operational costs, including employee wages, service fees (which increased by up to 300%), taxes, and levies.
Something Beyond Money!
In a survey conducted by "Khuyut" on the preferences of a representative sample of Yemenis coming to Sana’a from various provinces for medical treatment or short visits, about 89% of them preferred staying with relatives or friends, or renting an apartment - even at a higher cost - rather than booking a hotel.
Besides the lack of financial capacity, which made hotel stays an unappealing option for most respondents, another significant reason mentioned by some was security concerns, such as the risk of arrest or extortion by "security forces" due to name or family name similarity or suspicion. This has been the case for several hotel guests over the past decade, especially as all hotels are required to provide regular updates on guest data, with the possibility of raids and interrogations. These measures are not limited to Sana’a but are nearly identical in all Yemeni provinces, in line with the general atmosphere of polarization in the country.
Nostalgia for the "Good Old Days"
As Yemen's isolation deepens with the prolonged conflict and division, the sight of closed hotels stands as a stark witness to the profound economic and social transformations the country has undergone. This highlights that the collapse of the tourism sector is not merely an economic issue but reflects a broader reality that Yemenis face in the midst of the conflict, where job opportunities shrink and vital sectors wither, leaving the dream of returning to the "good old days" as nothing more than a fleeting thought in the winds of possibility.
