The Kingdom is working on opening 38 tourist sites in seven tourist destinations by 2022, compared to 15 sites available in four tourist destinations currently ready to receive tourists.

The ministry also seeks to provide 260,000 jobs during the next three years, the Minister of Tourism Ahmed Bin Aqeel Al-Khateeb, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Tourism Authority, disclosed recently. He said, “Tourism constitutes 10% of the average total income of the world’s economies. This sector constitutes 18 percent of Spain’s income, for example, 16 percent of France’s income, while it contributes 3.5 percent of the income in the Kingdom’s economy. We look forward to raising the sector’s contribution to 10% by 2030.”

The number of employees currently working in jobs related to tourism, who number approximately 600,000, noting that “the ministry seeks to provide 260,000 job opportunities during the next three years. It also aims to provide one million job opportunities by 2030, to bring the total by then to about 1.6 million job opportunities.”

“The successful tourism sector will only be built by the private sector, which adopts the concepts of supply, demand, and competitiveness, as we are working on two tracks to increase the supply, by enabling shared and temporary housing and short-term housing, by encouraging the people of the regions to let their additional housing units during the seasons, hence making an extra income.”

Al-Khateeb praised the recent legislation for developing the Saudi tourism sector, including, but not limited to, initiating the issuance of the tourist visa, which achieved remarkable and encouraging results by issuing more than 500,000 visas until the end of last February.

Source: Zawya