Flydubai CEO Ghaith Al-Ghaith said: “With the launch of this route, we hope to further strengthen bilateral trade relations between the two countries and open up new areas of partnership.”

With inter-country relations in non-oil sectors such as science, industry and telecommunications growing year-on-year, visitor volumes are expected to grow significantly.

Saudi Arabia also has one of the region’s most dynamic travel markets driven by domestic tourism in addition to international business and religious tourism, according to a statement.

It said visitor numbers are forecast to grow 6.7 percent annually until 2015 and Saudi Arabia is expected to host to almost 10 million additional visitors over the next four years.