RIYADH: Over 10.3 million people, including around 3.9 million tourists, visited 13 festivals held over the summer across the Kingdom, according to a report published by the Kingdom’s tourism authorities.
The report said that the visitors spent over SR1.2 billion at the festivals which were held in Riyadh, Jeddah, the Eastern Province, Hail, Taif, Madinah, Najran, Baha, Buraidah, Onaiza, Al-Jouf and Ahsa.
The report was published by the Saudi Center for Information and Tourism Data, an arm of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities. It said that most of the visitors were made up of families.
Around 40 percent of the cash spent by visitors was on shopping while the remaining percentage was made up of accommodation, transport, food and entertainment.
Around half of visitors in Jeddah, Hail, Baha and Taif lived in furnished apartments. Around 30 percent stayed with friends and relatives, while the rest stayed in hotels.
The report said most visitors complained about the high costs of accommodation and made a number of suggestions, including a reduction in service charges, the establishment of more reasonably priced furnished apartments, the giving of more attention to cleanliness, the establishment of green areas and separate women areas at festivals, provisions for more car parking facilities and amusement parks for children, and the distribution of brochures and posters about tourist places.
The center said all suggestions would be taken into consideration.
