JEDDAH, 18 December 2003 — A prominent Saudi businessman yesterday decried the flight of capital funds from the Kingdom and urged authorities to take effective steps to attract domestic and foreign investments. More than 2,500 Saudi companies have chosen to establish investment projects in Dubai rather than Saudi Arabia during the past three years, he said.
“We have to open our country for investment like the outside world opened its doors for us,” said Abdul Mohsen Al-Hokair, chairman of Al-Hokair Group. “Unfortunately we still find it difficult to get licenses. As a result, there are now more than 2,500 Saudi firms registered in Dubai for industrial and commercial projects.”
Speaking to Al-Eqtisadiah business daily, a sister publication of Arab News, Al-Hokair blamed bureaucracy, complex regulations and slow decision-making process for the massive exodus of capital.
“I feel extreme sorrow when I see Saudi industries running away from the Kingdom. We have to cooperate and work together to repatriate Saudi funds and attract foreign investment,” he said.
He urged authorities to step up efforts to promote domestic tourism and encourage Saudis to spend their holidays at the Kingdom’s resorts, pointing out that Saudi Arabia is the biggest exporter of tourists in the Arab world.
He said that government officials lacked a clear vision on how to profit from the four million tourists who leave the Kingdom each year.
“We have to ask ourselves why people are going to foreign countries for tourism,” said Al-Hokair, whose company specializes in recreation and tourism projects. Saudis spend more than SR25 billion on foreign tourism every year.
He felt this indicated that Saudi Arabia is in need of expanding its tourist facilities. “People like tourism, so why don’t we provide adequate facilities for this purpose here?”
Saudi Arabia has vast investment potentials. Its coastal areas can accommodate seven million but only a few thousands currently visit. Al-Hokair proposed a program like “Know Your Capital” to attract visitors to Riyadh from different parts of the Kingdom. He described the recreation center established in Dubai recently as the largest in the world and said there should be similar attractions in the Kingdom.
Al-Hokair group is the largest tourism company in the third world, and has plans to establish a large tourism company that would dominate East Asia. He also has plans to establish joint stock companies in all the Kingdom’s regions.
He called for converting family ventures into large joint stock companies for the benefit of the national economy and urged banks to finance small-scale projects. “Banks must play a big role in boosting national economy.”
Al-Hokair highlighted the growing role of tourism in boosting world economies, saying that Spain depends on tourism for 80 percent of its revenues. Hokairland recreation centers have been established in Dubai, Bahrain, Syria, Egypt, China and some Asian countries.
Al-Hokair estimated unemployment rate in the Kingdom at 30 percent. “We have the lazy not the unemployed... Our youth lack the work ethic,” he said and emphasized the need to employ more women. “Failure leads to victory,” the businessman said and urged Saudis to learn from their past mistakes to have a better future.
