RIYADH , 30 April — Saudi Arabia expects 20.8 million tourists will visit the Kingdom annually within 20 years, a top tourist official said yesterday.
Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary-general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism, told a two-day meeting on the industry that Saudi and foreign tourists spent more than $9 billion in the Kingdom last year.
He said that in 2001, tourism contributed 5.4 percent to the Saudi gross domestic product (GDP), or $9.6 billion, the third largest sector after oil and industry. Saudis spent some $6 billion while foreigners, including pilgrims, accounted for the rest, he said.
The tourism commission is set to release a long-term national plan next month, Prince Sultan said.
On top of the 20.8 million tourists a year, the plan projects 14 million tourist trips and that the Kingdom would require 50,000 additional hotel rooms and 75,000 furnished apartments by 2020.
Based on the commission estimates, tourism brings in some $3.7 billion in foreign currency a year.
Prince Sultan said in January that the commission expected a substantial rise in the number of internal tourists following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Saudi nationals spent $14.4 billion on foreign travel in 2000.
The vast majority of visitors to Saudi Arabia come to perform the Haj and Umrah. However, the authorities last year began issuing one-month visas to Muslims performing Umrah to allow them to stay on in the Kingdom as tourists, free to visit any part of the country.
