Saudi Arabia earned $7bn from tourists’ spending in six months

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Making tourism one of the kingdom’s most promising sectors, visitors to Saudi Arabia spent 27 billion riyals ($7.19 billion) during the first six months of 2022. Around 3.6 million foreign tourists visited the kingdom during the second quarter of the year, the Ministry of Investment said.

Saudi Arabia plans to diversify sources of income as part of Vision 2030 and tourism is one of the sectors.

The national News quoted Turki Alalshaikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, as saying that six million people visited the winter festival Riyadh Season 2022 within a month of its launch on October 21.

Saudi Arabia aims to increase the private sector’s contribution to gross domestic product to 65 per cent by 2030, up from 40 per cent in 2016, when Saudi Vision 2030 was announced. It also plans to reduce its economic dependence on the oil industry.

With the country now open to foreign tourism and investment, Saudi Arabia aims to become a top-five global destination by 2030. Also with the addition of worldwide sporting and entertainment events, Saudi Arabia is creating more opportunities for its citizens and foreign tourists to explore.

Last week Saudi Arabia announced that it would allow its citizens to operate Airbnb style property rentals through a new portal similar to the global lettings marketplace. The Minister of Tourism approved the tourism law on Wednesday.

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