DUBAI, 7 May 2003 — Saudi Arabia is preparing to open up to foreign investment in its tourism industry in a bid to boost its appeal to Western holidaymakers, it was announced here yesterday.
Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary-general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism and architect of a five-year plan to turn the Kingdom’s tourism sector into a major source of employment for its growing population, told AFP he also foresaw the relaxation of the current visa requirements for non-Muslim visitors. But he said his main goal was to change the popular perceptions — both in Saudi Arabia and abroad — that were holding back the development of a sector, which he hopes will generate some 1.7 million jobs by 2020.
“We need to relax and have an atmosphere that attracts people,” Prince Sultan said after opening Saudi Arabia’s first national pavilion at the region’s premier tourism fair in Dubai.
The 10th and largest annual Arabian Travel Market (ATM) opened in Dubai later yesterday with a record 783 companies from 55 countries taking part in the four-day show.
“We have nothing to hide. The perception is that Saudi Arabia is a closed society. But the reality is that it’s an open society, an open economy, with some six million expats. We have a lot of things to show,” Prince Sultan said.
Saudi Arabia, a country nearly the size of Western Europe, has stunning scenery including a long Red Sea coastline, mountains and the Empty Quarter desert as well as Nabeatean ruins like those in Jordan’s main tourist attraction, Petra.
The prince said a new National Program for Human Resources and Tourism being set up by the Saudi government was intended as the “engine of change in getting Saudis to take up tourism jobs in small and medium-sized enterprises, crafts, small industries, gift shops and restaurants.”
He said that by the end of the year he hoped to see a whole range of operators offering packages aimed at the Western traveler in place of the single Discover Saudi Arabia program currently offered by national carrier Saudi. “We have a proposal in the council of ministers to streamline investment and create new tours,” he said.
The prince said he expected to see a substantial relaxation of the Kingdom’s visa requirements by the end of the year. “It’s not just a question of two steps instead of 10 to get a visa. We plan to introduce e-visas,” he said. But he stressed that Westerners would still be expected to book through organized tours and packages, as the Kingdom sought to establish an industry that was high-value-added and friendly to the environment, as well as sensitive to Islamic traditions.
Tourism already contributes the third largest share of Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product, with some two million foreign visitors a year — the vast majority of them pilgrims to the Muslim holy sites in Makkah and Madinah. But currently just 10.5 percent of the sector’s jobs are taken up by Saudi nationals, a figure Prince Sultan wants to see increased to 70 percent or more.
The prince’s plans are by no means confined to Western holiday makers. Last year, the Kingdom relaxed restrictions that had previously confined Muslim pilgrims to the area around Makkah and Madinah, allowing them to roam freely across the Kingdom.
