Published on : Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Total spending on domestic tourism in the Kingdom amounted to SAR46.3 billion (USD12.3 billion) in 2018, while inbound tourism expenditures amounted to SAR75.2 billion (USD20 billion) for the same year.
Domestic tourism trips reached 42.7 million in 2018, while inbound tourism trips totalled 15.3 million.
Tourism in the Kingdom represents 3.6 per cent of the GDP. The spending on the sector increased by 17.5 per cent in 2018 compared to 2017.
Saudi Vision 2030 aims to increase tourism spending from SAR104 billion (USD27.7 billion) to SAR174 billion (USD46.6 billion) by 2020. The Vision has dedicated 23 national transformation initiatives for the tourism sector. It will also see the increase in the number of festivals and events from 300 to 500 by 2020.
Total local tourism expenditures increased 2.9 per cent year-on-year to SAR8.9 billion (USD2.37 billion) in the January-February period of this year from SAR8.7 billion (USD2.32 billion).
Inbound tourism spending grew 13.6 per cent to SAR12.5 billion (USD3.33 billion) in January and February, compared to SAR11 billion (USD2.9 billion) in the same period last year.
In the first two months of 2019, local tourism trips rose 4.7 percent to 8.3 million, compared to 7.9 million for the same period last year.
Saudi Arabia is renowned for its tourist and historic regions, such as Mada’in Saleh, Juatha, Qaryat al-Faw and Diriyah. The Kingdom has inaugurated several huge projects that are expected to attract more tourists, such as NEOM, a city that will depend fully on renewable energy, the Qiddiya entertainment mega-project and the Red Sea project.