Saudi Arabia expects to attract 50 million tourists in 2022
As its efforts to resume advertising its tourism sites locally and globally after being hampered by the pandemic are on the rise, Saudi Arabia intends to attract 50 million tourists by 2022.
Saudi Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Al-Khatib, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of the Green Saudi Forum, “We have already started the journey of recovery and it will continue through 2023 and 2024.”
Saudi Ministry of Tourism announced that the Kingdom would open its doors to tourists, and lift the suspension of entry for tourist visa holders, starting from August 1.
As part of the Kingdom’s attempts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, Al-Khatib unveiled a new center concentrating on sustainable tourism.
He added that the tourism sector is on track to constitute more than 4% of the Kingdom’s GDP this year, compared to 3.5% in 2019.
Residents will make up the majority of the 45 million tourists expected this year due to the pandemic.
The Kingdom had launched the tourist visa in September of the year 2019, in a historic decision in which Saudi Arabia opened its heart and its doors to tourists from different countries of the world.
It was a remarkable achievement at that time, as 400,000 visas were issued in less than six months before the Corona pandemic forced the suspension of travel and the closing of ports and borders.
