Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – The contribution of the tourism sector to Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product (GDP) has increased to 4.45 percent, the Minister of Tourism Ahmed bin Aqeel Al-Khateeb said during his participation in the 10th Arab-China Business Conference on Sunday.
Al-Khateeb highlighted that the ministry has developed comprehensive plans for the travel and tourism sector, which is three percent of the labor market, reported state news agency SPA.
“The Kingdom will invest more than $800 billion over the next ten years”, the minister said, adding that tourists may acquire Saudi tourist visas electronically.
Already visitors from 49 countries have been allowed to obtain electronic visas , since the launch of tourism initiatives, the tourism minister said.
Saudi Arabia’s tourism spending, according to the minister, surged 93 percent in 2022 to reach $49 billion, up from US$25.4 billion in 2021, as the Kingdom continues to diversify its economy as part of Vision 2030.
Earlier in February, discussing the details during a monthly meeting with citizens in February, Al-Khateeb said: “The direct contribution of the tourism sector in the gross domestic product amounted to 3.2 percent of the total target of 10 percent by 2030.”
Also, the number of tourism-related jobs in 2022 reached 880,000, reflecting an increase of 15 percent compared to the previous year.
“The percentage of Saudi women in the tourism sector also reached 44 percent of the total workers in the sector,” Al-Khateeb told the state news service.
Independent market research firm Statista figures reveal that the revenue generated by activities such as camping, cruises, hotels, package holidays, and vacation rentals stood at US$3.53 billion in 2017, US$3.68 billion in 2018, US$3.84 billion in 2019. In 2020, however, it dipped to US$1.74 billion owing to the global pandemic.
In 2022, the revenue from the tourism activity bounced back to US$3.26 billion and it is expected to reach US$3.81 billion by the end of 2023 – surpassing the pre-Covid tourism activity revenues.