Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia has announced its intention to revise its tourism goals, increasing the target number of visitors from the previous 100 million by 2030 to a new goal of 150 million, Mahmoud Abdulhadi, the Deputy Minister of Destination Enablement at the Ministry of Tourism, said during the Skift Global Forum 2023 in New York.
Abdulhadi stated, “The previous target of 100 million visits is no longer sufficient. We have not only met but exceeded our targets and 2022 performance, which indicates that we are on the right track.”
In 2022, Saudi Arabia recorded 16.5 million inbound visitors, with a significantly higher number of 77.8 million domestic visitors. Combining both categories, the total number of visitors reached 94.4 million in 2022, representing a substantial 45% increase compared to 2019. There has also been a remarkable 25% increase in overall visitor spending.
Leisure tourism has emerged as a significant growth area for the country, constituting 38% of all visits and contributing to 41% of total spending in the previous year.
The tourism sector has witnessed substantial job creation, with 880,000 people employed in the sector, marking a 15% increase compared to 2019.
In the first quarter of 2023, Saudi Arabia attracted 7.8 million tourists. The achievement marked the highest quarterly performance in the country’s history, reflecting a remarkable 64% growth when compared to the same period in 2019. The Kingdom’s incoming tourism revenue for the quarter rose by 225 percent when compared to the same period in 2022, bringing in the tourism revenue to $9.99 billion.
According to data from the World Tourism Organization released in May 2023, Saudi Arabia claimed the second spot globally for the highest growth rate in international tourist arrivals.