Saudi Arabia expands e-visa to eight more countries
To boost inbound tourist numbers, Saudi Arabia will grant tourist e-visas to travellers from eight newly-eligible countries.
These are Albania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, South Africa, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
The Saudi e-visas can be used for leisure, business and religious (Umrah only) travel.
Nationals of these countries can apply for a Saudi visitor visa ahead of their journey via the official e-visa portal,
The Saudi e-visa is valid for an entire year, and grants multiple entries.
It allows a stay of up to 90 days.
Visit Saudi offers an online trip planner for visitors to build custom itineraries.
Saudi Arabia has six UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and is noted for snorkeling and diving in the Red Sea
Other top visitor attrcions include Taif’s world-famous Rose Gardens and Riyadh’s Deira Souq.
The e-visa program was launched in 2019,
Saudi says visits in 2022 were up 93%.
That generated tourism spend of SAR185 billion (USD49 billion).
It has expanded visa initiatives to 57 nations, compared to the initial 49 countries at its launch.
In 2022, Saudi granted visitor e-visa to holders of Schengen, United Kingdom and US visas that have been used to enter those countries before arriving in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this year, it announced the free 96-hour Stopover Visa.
This allows passengers to stay in the country for up to 96 hours.
Stopover Visa holders are eligible for a complimentary one-night hotel stay during the stopover when booking through SAUDIA.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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