The 8th edition of Saudi Travel and Tourism Investment Market (STTIM 2015) formally began on Monday with experts at technical sessions brainstorming on investment opportunities, strategies and aspirations for a new era of comprehensive development in the tourism sector of the Kingdom.

Earlier, the opening ceremony scheduled for Sunday evening was canceled due to the ongoing Kingdom-led military operation Decisive Storm in Yemen.

The Saudi excellence in tourism award ceremony scheduled for Monday on the sidelines of the STTIM, the largest tourism industry event of its kind in the Kingdom, was also put off and will be given later.

Presiding over the first session entitled "Investing in tourism entertainment in the Kingdom: Status and future prospects," Majed Al-Hokair, vice chairman of the Al-Hokair Group for Tourism and Development board, invited investors and tourism leaders to do feasible study as the government is keen to extend concessions and cooperation toward further development in the key sector.

Notably, the mega tourism event brings together the investors, operators of tourism facilities and services, developers and leaders of tourism destinations, the public departments, relevant companies and tourism experts under one roof for the week-long forum.

Khalid Al-Zahrani from Al-Khozami Company said hopefully there were bright prospects for investing in the tourist entertainment industry in the Kingdom while Mohammad Khalid from quality control department of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) held out an assurance for quality of service.

He said the SCTA conducts regular inspections for efficient operations at all tourism facilities across the Kingdom. Moreover, recently SCTA and the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) joined hand for the development of the tourism sector by integrating efforts in the tourist events and festivals.

He added that the government also extended loan facilities and the details could be furnished from SCTA branches.

In the second session on "National tourism human resources: Challenges and aspirations," Mohammed Al-Majed, chief operating officer at the college of excellence here, said: "We aim to provide vocational and technical training to the university graduates to match international standards with strategic partnerships from various countries.

He noted that we are working in cooperation with Al-Hokair Group in Najran to train graduates for the hospitality sector and allied services.

Abdul-Kareem An-Nujaidi, deputy director general for training and employment at the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) said: “We are moving in the right direction with the road map for 2020 to which he described as a dynamic vision document to take national tourism to new heights with well-equipped human resources. However, he also stressed for timely review of challenges and opportunities in the sector.

Abdullah Ash-Sharekh, dean, tourism and antiquities college, King Saud University (KSU), said there are good career opportunities for university graduates in the tourism sector even as the SCTA has led from the front on Saudization of jobs.

Furthermore, he added that SCTA is also committed to women empowerment through the tourism sector.

Notably, National Handicraft Program (Brai), which is an affliate of SCTA, signed an agreement with the National Commercial Bank (NCB) to provide training to low-income group women artisans in the Kingdom and support their efforts toward the empowerment.

In the third session on the first day, panelists Abdul-Rahman Al-Rakban, SCTA licensing specialist, Saad Al-Qahtani, director general of ecotourism, Saudi Wildlife Authority and Rustum Al-Kubaisi, director general of SCTA’s branch in Najran spoke on specialized tourism accommodation facilities in the Kingdom.

The STTIM opening followed multiple activities directed toward business to business (B2B) and business to customers (B2C) visitors on Monday with an accompanying exhibition and workshop at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center (RICEC) from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The scientific sessions are being held at InterContinental Hotel from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.