Saudis aim to keep travellers’ dollars at home
DUBAI – Saudi Arabia is to release a new national tourism plan by the end of the year.
The long term vision for the country’s hospitality sector estimates visitor numbers will nearly double from 47 million in 2008 to 88 million by 2020, while the number of hotel rooms would rise from 117,097 to 254,310.
Speaking at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC), president and board chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, said, “We have a major programme for human resource development as we see tourism as a major job creator.â€
Prince Sultan stressed that development in the Kingdom was responding to demand from the domestic market and that the emphasis in the next two years would be to fulfil this need rather than cultivate overseas visitor markets
“More than US$10 billion is spent by Saudi Arabians on travelling overseas … but they are now eager to spend a good part of their holidays at home,” he said.
“We aimed to capture five percent of this but with the trend to ‘holiday at home’, this could be bigger – there is a large gap between supply and demand with areas such as weekend traffic showing major growth potential.”
To fulfil this demand, Prince Sultan pointed to the major developments already underway in the Kingdom.
“In Jeddah alone, there is a project to redevelop the historic centre while we have 17km of untouched beachfront in the city centre,” he said.
“We are working on the historic ports of the Red Sea and the railway connecting western Saudi Arabia to the east coast.
“The Red Sea will be one of the biggest growth areas with up to 21 new destinations – indeed, we will announce at least one or two of these new projects by the end of this year.”
To diversify the tourism product, Prince Sultan said other initiatives included the launch of eco-lodges and farm hotels, as well as heritage accommodation:
“We are sure that hotel investment will be one of the biggest growth areas in Saudi Arabia as tourism is accepted on the national agenda,” he said.
Ian Jarrett
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Qatar Airways offers flexible payment options for European travellers
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt
Digital Travel Reporter of the Mirror totally seduced by HotelPlanner AI Travel Agent
Strike action set to cause travel chaos at Brussels airports
All eyes on Qatar as Qatar Airways leads a season of global events