DAMMAM: Tourists in the Eastern Province annually spend more than SR13 billion on more than 7 million tourist trips, the head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage in the region, Abdulatif Al-Bunyyan, said.
Al-Bunyyan, who is also head of the Tourist Development Council in the region, said the Eastern Province is considered the most important tourist destination in the Kingdom. Thanks to its proximity to the GCC countries, the region occupies an outstanding position on the Kingdom’s internal tourist map, he said.
He said the eastern region has been selected as the Kingdom’s summer venture for festivals of the year, enjoying a key tourist position, since summer this year hosts a number of entertainment functions extending over nearly four months.
This has given those in charge of festivals a convenient time to organize diverse and attractive functions conducive to attract all ages and groups under the title “destination is the eastern region,” he said.
He said that there were over 10 festivals of the current season which contain more than 94 functions organized in different provinces of the region.
The executive committee of the Tourist Development Council has adopted a strategy for more than 20 festivals every year over a five-year period in a bid to maximize benefits resting on the geographical diversity of the region to realize balanced development and provide job opportunities for citizens, he said.
Within the next two years, the eastern region will witness the launching of 62 hotel projects, of which 24 are five-star and 29 are four-star projects, he said.
He said this would add a qualitative leap to the eastern region’s hospitality sector, thus bringing the number of hotels from 51 to more than 118, and more than 800 furnished housing units.
EP tourists spend SR13bn on trips yearly
EP tourists spend SR13bn on trips yearly
