Saudi Arabia eyes reaching 60 mln tourist visits, 800,000 jobs by 2022-end: Minister

Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al Khateeb

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Al Khateeb, said the ministry is looking forward to reaching 60 million tourist visits and moving from 700,000 to 800,000 jobs by the end of 2022.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya TV, Al Khateeb said jobs in the tourism sector had risen from 680,000 by the end of 2020 to 700,000 at a time when the industry is registering a decline in jobs globally.

Although 2021 was a tough year for the sector after the coronavirus pandemic, there was comprehensive growth in numbers, including historical travel and domestic tourism, with 54 million tourist visits.

The minister noted that the “historic” government budget allocated more than SAR 3 billion to the Ministry of Tourism and the Saudi Tourism Authority, pointing out that this confirms the importance of the sector and its contribution to Vision 2030 and boosting the private sector’s contribution in promoting GDP and job creation.

Al Khateeb added that the priorities of this budget include developing tourist destinations, regulations and legislation and attracting investments, in addition to, development and training of human resources in the tourism sector, where more than SAR 500 million were allocated to train citizens.

The hotel and hotel apartments sector will be a priority and the focus will be very high, given large projects such as the Red Sea and Diriyah.