As Saudi Arabia accelerates the process of enhancing its tourism sector, the focus remains on leveraging the religious segment to attract more visitors.
Last year, approximately 18 million tourists visited the Kingdom, of which a substantial proportion was religious visitation, consultancy firm Knight Frank said in a recent note.
Under the current reform plans, the government is also working to improve infrastructure and transport links in the cities of Makkah and Madinah to prepare for additional strain as the country aims to increase religious tourist inflow to 15 million by 2020.
Argaam takes a look at top four transport projects in the Makkah and Madinah province:
1) King Abdulaziz International Airport
Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport is currently Saudi Arabia’s busiest airport within the Gulf Cooperation Council region, according to Knight Frank. Approximately 34 million people used the airport in 2017.
The airport is undergoing an expansion with the aim of increasing its passengers to 43 million by 2025. The total cost of the first and second phase of expansion for the airport is estimated at $3.85 billion as of May 2018.
2) Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz International Airport
The main airport for the city of Madinah, Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz International Airport, completed the second phase of its planned upgrade in Q2 2014, increasing the airport’s annual capacity to 12 million passengers.
The third phase of the airport expansion – to be complete by 2037 – aims to further increase the capacity of the airport to 16 million passengers a year.
3) Haramain Railway
A high-speed rail project connecting the cities of Makkah and Madinah via King Abdullah Economic City and Jeddah is due to open this year. The rail started a trial two-way trip between Makkah and Madinah in February.
The railway line will stretch over 450 kilometer and the train will be able to carry approximately 165,000 passengers per day at a service speed of 300 km/h.
4) Makkah Metro
The Makkah Mass Rail Transit’s project is expected to have four lines when complete, with 88 stations. The network is expected to cover a stretch of 182 kilometers.
A total budget of about SAR 62 billion was allocated for the project, which is set to be built in three phases. The project is reported to be ready for operation by 2020, Knight Frank said.
Write to Nadeshda Zareen at nadeshda.zareen@argaamplus.com
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