Saudi Arabia advances 12 ranks in 2022 international tourists index

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's flag

The Kingdom’s tourism sector pushed Saudi Arabia 12 ranks forward among the most visited countries to reach 13th place worldwide in 2022, from 25th place in 2019.

The number of international tourists who visited the Kingdom reached 16.6 million last year, according to the World Tourism Organization (WTO) report.

Moreover, the Kingdom advanced 16 places in the international tourism revenue index, reaching the 11th rank worldwide last year, compared to the 27th in 2019.

In the first quarter of 2023, the country received about 7.8 million international tourists, an all-time high quarterly performance, at a growth rate of 64%, compared to the same period of 2019. Thus, the country took the second place among the most developing countries during this period.

Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Saudi Minister of Tourism, confirmed that this achievement is an addition to the other successes of the Kingdom in various fields and the culmination of the government’s support to continue enhancing the Kingdom’s position on the global tourism map.

He pointed out that facilitating travel visa procedures, planning promotional campaigns in the target countries, and the diversity of tourism destinations in the Kingdom were among the reasons for these achievements.

Moreover, the Kingdom accomplished a new achievement within the Travel and Tourism Development Index, issued by the World Economic Forum, reaching the 33rd position globally, advancing 10 ranks compared to 2019.