Saudi Arabia has achieved its 2030 tourism vision ahead of schedule, receiving more than 100 million tourists
On February 29, 2024, the Saudi Ministry of Tourism released an exciting report showing that the country has managed to host more than 100 million tourists in 2023, ahead of the target in its 2030 Tourism Vision. This achievement not only highlights the booming tourism industry in the Kingdom, but also reflects the country's remarkable efforts to attract international and domestic tourists.
The report details that in 2023, Saudi Arabia received a total of 27.5 million international tourists and 79.3 million domestic tourists, and the total number of tourists exceeded the 100 million mark for the first time. Compared to the previous year, the number of international tourists increased by 65%, while the number of domestic tourists also achieved a solid growth of 2%. This growth trend not only reflects the strong momentum of the Saudi tourism industry, but also shows that the country's tourism strategy is achieving remarkable results.
In terms of economic benefits, tourists spend more than 250 billion riyals (about 67 billion US dollars) in Saudi Arabia, accounting for more than 4% of GDP. This figure is not only a testament to the huge contribution of tourism to the Saudi economy, but also demonstrates the country's potential to establish tourism as an important pillar of the economy.
The goal of the Saudi National Tourism Strategy is to increase the contribution of tourism to GDP to 10% and to strive to establish the kingdom as a globally renowned tourist destination. In order to achieve this goal, Saudi Arabia is actively promoting various tourism projects, strengthening infrastructure construction, improving the quality of tourism services, and increasing the promotion of tourism.
In terms of employment, tourism has created nearly 930,000 jobs for Saudi Arabia, making it one of the country's important employment areas. Saudi Arabia** also plans to increase the number of jobs created by tourism to 1.6 million by 2030, further boosting the domestic job market.
The United Nations Tourism Organization (UNWTO) highly praised Saudi Arabia for this achievement and expressed its appreciation for Saudi Arabia's achievement of attracting 1The new target of 500 million tourists is confident. UNWTO believes that Saudi Arabia's investment and innovation in tourism will continue to attract more tourists and promote the continued prosperity and development of the country's tourism industry.
Overall, this historic achievement of Saudi Arabia in the tourism sector not only demonstrates the country's strength and charm in attracting tourists, but also lays a solid foundation for the future development of its tourism industry. As Saudi Arabia continues to increase its investment and support for tourism, we have reason to believe that Saudi Arabia's tourism industry will continue to maintain a strong momentum of development and become an important growth point for the country's economy.