French hotel and tourism group Accor signed a deal Wednesday with Saudi Arabia to set up three academies to train Saudis in the hospitality sector, the official news agency SPA said. Prince Sultan bin Salman, who heads the Supreme Commission for Tourism, signed the deal with Accor CEO Gilles Pelisson for academies in Riyadh, the eastern city of Hufuf and the western city of Taif at a cost of 120 million riyals (32 million dollars), SPA said.

“Setting up these academies is part of an effort to create jobs for Saudis in the tourism sector,” Prince Sultan was quoted as saying.

Accor won a contract last year to manage the largest luxury hotel in the Middle East to be built in the holy city of Mecca, in western Saudi Arabia.
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