Tourism is the new Saudi Economics Locomotive that is reinforced by the big "Vision 2030" projects

In less than a decade, the features of the global tourism and cultural card tend to change thanks to the changes in the Saudi economy that occur with a rapid rhythm. It aims to place the kingdom within the world leading tourist destinations, as one of the most important targets for the 2030 vision, so that the tourism and entertainment sectors have seen large investment flow, important projects and a variety of entertainment programs, which reflected positively by increasing the number of tourists and the high contribution of the sector to the coarse product. The value of tourism investments jumped from 1.18 billion Riyale to 14.8 billion Riyals in 2024, according to the annual report of the Saudi Vision 2030 for the year 2024. included. The target of the hotel rooms and according to the Vision report, Saudi Arabia wants to reach 675 thousand hotel rooms by 2030, of which 120 thousand rooms are in Riyadh. At the end of last year, the Saudi public investment fund announced the establishment of a company to run and operate hotels in the name of “Adira”, saying that it will start hotel points, and the purpose of developing and leading the hospitality sector in the kingdom. The Kingdom aims to increase the contribution of the tourism sector to GDP from 3% in 2019 to 10% in 2030, by investing approximately $ 500 billion in $ 15 years. Selim trapped, the partner and head of hospitality, tourism and entertainment in the Middle East and North Africa in Knight Frank, said in an interview with the ‘East’ that the progress in the sector has been a great achievement since the launch of the vision, which indicates that these achievements have begun to make the desired results, whether the growth of the number of tourists, the creation of the sector in the local Queen. Over the past year, the country has visited more than 29.7 million international tourists, leaving the kingdom second in the world in the growth of the number of tourists. The Saudi government increased its target annually by 2030 (including domestic tourism) from 100 million tourists to 150 million, after it had already achieved the target number six years before the date. Al -ula is an attractive destination, one of the tourist destinations that recently opened for tourist delegations, which received 286 thousand visitors last year, according to Rami al -muallem, vice president of the tourism administration and marketing management sector at the Royal Commission for Al -ula Governorate, in an interview with “Al -harq”. According to Muzammil Hussein, CEO of Al -Musafter Tourism and Tourism Company, during an interview with ‘Al -Sharq’, although religious tourism and the destinations of Mecca and the city have a large part of the tourism activity in Saudi Arabia, see new destinations such as the Red Sea and Alla an increasing demand. He added that the interest in Saudi Arabia, whether local or regional flights, began by cities such as Jeddah – Aqaba – Sharm El Sheikh, or flights in the Mediterranean, and expected the continuation of the demand for this kind of flight. Selim, which is done in all aspects of the sector parallel, is the sponsor of the ongoing sustainable growth and achieving the vision targets of this industry. The facilitation of the entry of tourists, airports and airlines develops to connect Saudi Arabia to the world, to link internal destinations to different modes of transport, increase the capacity of hotel rooms and to organize major world events, all of which are sufficient to have a significant impact in the sector. The Kingdom has taken several measures to facilitate the advent of tourists by reforming the organizational and legislative environment and adopting the new tourism system that depends on the electronic visa. In the file of maintaining antiques, the kingdom reached its goal before the date is scheduled to include eight websites on the UNESCO World Heritage List, which is the target number within the “Vision 2030”. All of these efforts are reflected in the recruitment sector, as the number of direct employees in the tourism sector recorded a growth to 966.5 thousand employees by the end of last year, compared to 683 thousand employees in 2020, the Saudi made up a quarter of the number of workers, while women acquired 13% of the total workforce. The vision determined the target of 1.6 million posts created by the sector at the end of the contract. Salim believes that the development of tourism activity in the kingdom helps to create tourism integration in the region, if reached, it will convert the region into a global tourism center. He added that the lure of Saudi tourists will not affect other destinations in neighboring countries, explaining that each destination has its characteristics, nature and culture, and this also applies to tourist destinations in the kingdom.