Arabian Travel Market: KSA to Welcome 30 Mln Tourists in 2024
Arabian Travel Market: KSA to Welcome 30 Mln Tourists in 2024
The Arabian Travel Market exhibition 2024 stated today, Thursday, that Oxford Economics and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales conducted a study. This study predicts that the Kingdom will welcome around 30 million tourists this year for at least one overnight stay.
This comes at a time when the Kingdom anticipates an increase in visitor numbers to 150 million by the end of the current decade, reported Al Arabiya.
The exhibition, in a statement, mentioned that the Kingdom will highlight its future opportunities in the tourism sector during the exhibition in Dubai.
It aims to increase the sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 10% by 2030, thanks to significant investments in the tourism, hospitality, and entertainment sectors, in addition to developing a large number of massive and ambitious projects.
The Kingdom hosted 27.6 million tourists (overnight visitors) in 2023 according to Oxford research and the Institute of Accountants, reported the Arab World News Agency.
The statement, quoting the Saudi Ministry of Tourism, mentioned that Saudi Arabia welcomed 14.6 million tourists in the first half of last year. This represents an increase of 142% on an annual basis.
Ministry data also indicated a significant rise in the domestic tourism sector in the country, with a 16% increase in spending in the first half of 2023.
The average duration of stay rose to 6.3 nights, up from 4.6 nights during the same period in 2022.
Sustainable Travelling
The statement added that environmentally responsible travel will be one of the main themes of this year’s exhibition.
This theme is important to continue the sustainable efforts tackled during the Year of Sustainability in the Emirates and the United Nations Climate Conference COP28. Cope 28 was held in Dubai at the end of last year.
The Arabian Travel Market exhibition 2024 will explore how innovation can be employed to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and create a more sustainable travel and tourism sector for future generations.
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