According to our research, MiyVue.com discovered an article on hoteliermiddleeast.com that quoted sources from the developers-Range Hospitality, indicating that the company is planning to build a few five star properties in Mecca, and Medina. Also, according to the article, “under the Range Holdings group of companies, Range Developments will be developing luxury hospitality projects outside of religious tourism, with projects soon to be launched in the Iraqi city of Baghdad and tourism destination of St. Kitts.”

The article quoted the company’s CEO as confirming that the Dubai-based Range Hospitality, which specialises in developing hotels and residences in pilgrimage sites, is planning to invest US$1bn in new projects over the next three to four years.

“Range Hospitality would be investing a considerable amount of money in the next three to four years,” Munaf Ali, CEO Range Hospitality told Arabian Business. However, it is not clear as to exactly what type and scope of investment is expected for St. Kitts. No time frame has also been provided, nor has there been any information regarding the proposed location.

However, last month, construction of Range’s US$175m Al Rawdatain Residences hotel project in Karbala got underway. The 12-storey hotel project was launched in August 2010 and is due to be completed by the end of 2013. The project is unique in that Range is offering off-plan Shariah-compliant timeshare units at the development.

At the time of writing this article, MiyVue.com was unable to obtain feedback from the Ministry of Tourism regarding their knowledge of and reaction to the media announcement, however, a release from the information department of the Prime Minister did also issue a brief release, mainly quoting the same online source.