Before the global pandemic and resulting economic slowdown, Saudi Arabia registered significant growth in one of its key industries of focus in 2019 as the Kingdom looks to diversify its economy away from oil, an encouraging sign of progress that could be resumed when Coronavirus fears wane.
Inbound tourism in Saudi Arabia was up a whopping 8% from the previous year, with total tourism spending up nearly 9% from 2018, according to official data. These figures were from the report released by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) and the Ministry of Tourism. According to the data, the year 2019 “posted the highest growth rate over the last three years, recording the highest ever spending by tourists coming to Saudi Arabia.”
Although a relatively small annual increase in funds spent ($2 billion), the uptick is no accident. The Kingdom only announced the opening of tourist visas in October 2019, when it slashed the red tape required to visit Saudi Arabia and announced an online visa available to most around the world.
Tourists in Saudi Arabia visit an ancient site.
There have been a total of 16.48 million tourism trips to the Kingdom during 2019, compared to 15.3 million trips in the previous year, an increase of 7.6 percent (1.16 million trips), the data showed. “Out of the total trips, 37.7 percent were from the Gulf countries followed by the South Asian countries, which accounted for 16.7 percent, and the Middle East countries with about 14.7 percent. Countries from East Asia and the Pacific came in the fourth position with 11.1 percent, and it was followed by Africa 7.7 percent, Europe 7.3 percent and America 4.8 percent,” Saudi Gazette reports.
Before late last year, visiting the Kingdom was limited to mostly businesspeople and pilgrims, which is reflected in the data. An overwhelming 73.2 percent of the total spending of these tourists was for religious purposes, followed by business and conference purposes with 18.2 percent, then visiting relatives and friends 5.5 percent. So, even with a modest uptick in tourism spending and visitors, there’s still a large market opportunity for Saudi Arabia to grow in international inbound tourism for leisure.
The growth in the sector for Saudi Arabia is encouraging progress as the Kingdom looks to the development of tourism as one of the industries that will help power a more diverse and sustainable Saudi economy. Saudi Arabia is investing billions to turn pristine landscapes, historic sites, and untouched beaches into smartly designed, state-of-the-art tourist destinations. It is also investing in entertainment and cultural offerings to provide a better quality of life for its citizens and visitors.
Capital investment for tourism is set to rise to more than SAR 200 billion (USD $ 54 billion) over the next 10 years.
The Diriyah area of Riyadh.
Domestic tourism was also on the rise. The volume of spending for domestic tourism also grew during the year 2019 to reach a record figure of SR53 billion, an increase of 10.4 percent, compared to SR48 billion in 2018. Domestic tourism trips registered a growth of 12.6 percent, reaching 48 million trips last year while comparing to 42.6 million trips in 2018, the report indicated.
Saudi Arabia is also investing in developing the Saudi tourism infrastructure, recently completing a new international airport in Jeddah that will be able to handle 100 million passengers per year as well as other transportation and development projects.
The global pandemic will take its toll on this growth in 2020, but once in the rear-view mirror the Kingdom can resume building on the initial progress seen in the all-important sector as it looks toward 2030 and beyond.
