DAMMAM, 7 October 2004 — Prince Sultan ibn Salman, chairman of the Supreme Commission for Tourism, has emphasized the need to attract Saudi investors who have been investing abroad and urged authorities to simplify procedures and expedite licenses.
Prince Sultan was speaking at the inaugural session of the 2nd Real Estate and International Housing Exhibition at the Dhahran Exhibition Center here on Tuesday. He said the tourism commission will soon set up a facility on the lines of a one-stop shop where investors get their license and other documents under one roof with minimum paperwork.
He said the commission wanted to give a professional look to its tourism campaign and in this regard the commission has planned to send 100 municipal mayors abroad to learn the foreign experience in tourism development.
“Next week 20 mayors will be leaving for Italy where they will gain experience on heritage development,” Prince Sultan said.
He said one of the main objectives of the commission was to attract a portion of 4.5 million Saudi tourists who otherwise travel abroad. “We want them to visit domestic destinations as well.”
The prince admitted that the tourism sector was still a disorganized industry in the country and the main task of the commission was to organize it and provide it with a professional look.
Prince Sultan said the commission was in touch with the banking sector. It was to explore the need of financing in the tourism sector and to encourage private investors.
He said the tourism campaigns have yielded some very positive results as in 2003 the country recorded nearly 57.6 million tourism arrivals and departures. He said this summer there was an increase of nearly 76 percent in festivals.
Prince Sultan said the promotion of tourism will not only effect high revenue yield but also help in the growth of real estate in the country. He said at present there were 81,000 hotel rooms and 23,000 furnished flats and once tourism campaign goes in full swing, hotel rooms will reach 129,000 and furnished flats 79,000 by 2020.
Earlier, Eastern Province Deputy Governor Prince Jalawi ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Musaad said the show was a true reflection of a vibrant economy. He said the growing interest of various sectors in the real estate indicate that the investment opportunities in the country was immense and people wanted to use those opportunities. He hoped that the six-day exhibition will pave the way for a major growth in the sector.
The highlight of this year’s exhibition is participation of banks. The banks are exploring possibilities of loan for individuals as well as companies. Experts at the exhibition say that during the past 24 hours since the exhibition was inaugurated, the demand for land in the Eastern Region along the seaside is surging. They said there is also a huge demand for real estate in the holy cities, particularly Makkah.
Last year in the inaugural exhibition, it was estimated that business deals worth more than SR2 billion were concluded. Experts expect that this year business will jump by more than 25 percent.
Another major change this year is the participation of businesswomen in the show.
