Tourism in Saudi Arabia in the modern era

Tourism in Saudi Arabia has developed in the modern era in a distinct and very advanced way, as it is going on a steady pace to provide more successes in this field.

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Tourism in Saudi Arabia

Tourism in the modern era in the Kingdom

The Kingdom's efforts in the field of tourism

Tourism in Saudi Arabia

Tourism in Saudi Arabia is one of the most important sectors in Saudi Arabia, which is growing very rapidly day by day. It is not only religious tourism, but has become therapeutic, recreational, cultural, shopping and others.

And now, with the progress witnessed by the tourism sector in Saudi Arabia, many visitors and tourists from all over the world come to visit it and enjoy the progress and the tourist places in it, whether heritage, civilization or cultural and many distinct areas, so it is an important destination for many tourists of all nationalities and also non-Muslims .

Tourism is one of the important axes of the Saudi Vision 2030, as it possesses historical and heritage treasures, and this is not the natural diversity that fascinates everyone and attracts tourists to it.

 The land of the Kingdom is the cradle of the Islamic religion, which makes it a great tourist attraction. Looking at it, you will find millions who come to visit the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque in order to perform the Hajj and Umrah rituals.

According to the statistics, Saudi Arabia came among the first Arab destinations preferred by Muslim tourists, and ranked fourth in the world among the list of the top ten most visited tourist destinations, out of 130 countries, according to the report of the World Islamic Tourism Index in 2019.

Tourism in the modern era in Saudi Arabia is still in constant development, as on September 27, 2019, for the first time in its history, it introduced a tourist visa that allows all citizens of the world to come to it, during the year according to the new regulations, which included the possibility of obtaining the visa electronically. or access to a port of entry.

It has also become possible to carry out multiple visits to Saudi Arabia, not exceeding 90 days at a time, through the visa that citizens of 49 countries benefited from during its first phase, and it is expected that they will represent about 80% of global travel expenses in addition to 75% of trips This will be by 2030.

The Kingdom is working to increase the contribution of the tourism sector to the national product, and this came through the announcement of the Ministry of Tourism, to work on attracting investments, which amounted to 115 billion riyals, and this was since the beginning of the launch of the tourist visa, and it is expected that in 2030, according to the Kingdom’s vision, 100 will be received One million visits every year, so that the Kingdom becomes among the top 5 countries that attract tourists.

 It is currently working on increasing the capacity in a number of its airports to accommodate about 150 million passengers each year, in addition to developing a number of new tourist destinations, for example “Neum Al-Mustaqbal City and Qiddiya Cultural City” and this is in addition to a number of various projects that it is implementing, whether Tourist or recreational in the vicinity of the Red Sea.

Tourism in the Kingdom is heading towards more success, due to the support and backing it receives from the Saudi government, which is implementing comprehensive development processes in the tourism sector.

This development included working on a number of major projects, in addition to modernizing and developing the infrastructure, as well as working on rehabilitating tourist and heritage sites.

It is also working on upgrading the accommodation sector, in addition to developing travel agencies and tourism services that they provide to visitors and tourists, and developing the various activities and events it offers in tourist sites.

It is developing the development of tourism human resources in the Kingdom, and the Tourism Authority is currently working on completing the tasks related to transforming tourism into an economic sector that has an important role in increasing the gross national product, in addition to supporting the national economy, and this is through returns that may reach 10%, in addition to providing About 1.6 million jobs by 2030.

The tourism sector in the Kingdom contributed to a significant development in terms of gross domestic product, and this came at a rate of more than 7.2% in the year 2011, while you will find that the employment rate of Saudis has exceeded about 26%, and this is from the total number of workers in the tourism sector, who directly occupy 670,000 jobs.

And it became clear, according to the data of the World Tourism Organization, that the share of Saudi Arabia with regard to the number of tourist trips to the Middle East has become about 32%.

While a report presented at the World Economic Forum indicated that the Kingdom managed to get 76 billion dollars from tourism in 2013, revealing that foreign tourists spent about 48 billion while local tourists spent 28 billion. Whereas, in 2008, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared Mada'in Saleh (Al Hijr) a world heritage place, to be the first site in the Kingdom to join the list of World Heritage Sites.

 Diriyah was added in 2010 to the list, while in 2014 the historic Jeddah was added to the same list. In addition, rock art in the Hail region was added in 2015, so that it became on the World Heritage List, while the Al-Ahsa Oasis was placed in 2018.

The Kingdom was able to obtain the classification of the fourth tourist destination within the World Tourism Index, and this was among the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in 2014.

Tourism in the modern era in the Kingdom

It was noticed recently that the Kingdom has great interest in the tourism sector, so it has worked hard to develop it significantly, in addition to developing a plan for this development and it will be until 2030. 

The Kingdom has also recently worked on increasing the hotels and rooms in which they are located, and working to develop them in all respects to be like the newest and best countries in the world.

The Kingdom's efforts in the field of tourism

The Kingdom is experiencing a state of renaissance and success with regard to the tourism sector, as it is now among the world's most attractive countries for tourists, in addition to being the most attractive global market for brands in the tourism sector.

Saudi Arabia has become one of the advanced tourism centers in the Arab and global world, thanks to the efforts it has made, whether from the government or wise leaders that are working to provide more development and growth.

And it has planned many ambitious projects that depend on development and increase the wheel of growth, such as:

- The Red Sea Development Project announced by the Crown Prince.

And the work of the largest entertainment, cultural and sports city in the Kingdom, in the southwest of the capital, to become one of the largest entertainment capital around the world.

- She is currently planning to create the largest Islamic museum in the world, of ancient Islamic history.

It seeks to develop ancient and heritage sites, and other projects and plans that you intend to implement other than the ones you are working on.