Saudi Arabia seeks to become global travel destination
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is seeking to establish itself as a global travel destination and strengthen tourism ties with Korea as part of its economic transformation objectives.
Saudi Arabia’s travel and tourism sector plays a major part in Vision 2030 and since 2020, the kingdom has endeavored to achieve the goal of attracting 100 million visitors. However, the country has already attained the milestone last year, seven years earlier than expected, and it is now working towards bigger goals, according to the Saudi government. The remarks came as part of The Korea Times Global Business Club, which featured local experts and diplomatic officials from Saudi Arabia and took place at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul.
Korean government officials, the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Korea Sami M. Alsadhan, Middle East experts and Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin attended the event to discuss Saudi Arabia’s construction of NEOM smart city and the economic cooperation between the two countries.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is a government project overseen by the Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, aiming to diversify the economy and lower the kingdom’s reliance on oil revenue.
Home to six UNESCO World Heritage sites and over 10,000 unearthed archaeological sites, the kingdom has already witnessed over 93.5 million visits and a total tourism spend of 185 billion Saudi riyals ($49.3 billion) in 2022, according to the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA).
Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector is expected to grow at an average of 11 percent annually over the next decade, making it the fastest-growing travel and tourism industry in the Middle East, according to the forecast from the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Economic Impact Report from 2022.
This annual growth, more than six times the 1.8 percent growth rate of the kingdom’s overall economy, will bolster Saudi Arabia’s overall economy, create 1.4 million jobs and make a $169.3 billion contribution to the country’s GDP, presenting 17.1 percent of the total economy, the council projected.
Since August 2022, Saudi Arabia’s national carrier, Saudia, has been operating direct flights to Riyadh and Jeddah twice a week, respectively, from Incheon International Airport.
Notably, Saudi Arabia operates an e-visa program for individual travelers from Korea and 50 other countries, in which passengers traveling via Saudia or any other Saudi Arabian airlines, can get a maximum 96-hour stopover visa for the kingdom and receive a free one-night stay at a hotel, the STA explained.