KSA tourists cough up $25.1 billion abroad

GENEVA: A recent economic report showed that Western and Asian countries have high levels of spending on tourism abroad.
Saudi Arabia and Brazil were ranked among the top 20 countries in the world in terms of spending on tourism abroad, based on information provided by specialized economic institutions including the World Bank.
The United States benefited the most from tourist dollars, while European countries witnessed the greatest inbound tourism.
Revenue from tourism was found to have little to do with a country's size or its population. For example, the city states of Singapore (719 square kilometers, 5.5 million population) collected $19.2 billion from tourism, compared to Russia’s $19 billion.
Comparing Switzerland to India proves that the volume of investment in tourist attractions is the most important element.
Saudis’ spending abroad was the highest among all the Gulf states, and topped that of all Arab countries. Saudis spent $25.1 billion on tourism abroad, Emiratis $17.7 billion, Qataris $12.9 billion, Kuwaitis $12.3 billion, Omanis $2.3 billion and Jordanians $1.3 billion.
The report showed that the Emirates earned $14.0 billion a year, followed by Qatar ($10.6 billion), Saudi Arabia ($9.3 billion), Egypt ($8 billion), Jordan ($5.5 billion) and Tunisia ($3 billion).
The United States earned $220.1 billion a year from visitors, followed by France ($66.8 billion), Britain ($62.8 billion) and China ($56.9 billion).
Germany came in sixth ($55.9 billion), followed by Italy ($45.5 billion), Turkey ($37.4 billion) Switzerland ($21.0 billion), Austria ($20.9 billion), India ($20.8 billion), Greece ($19.5 billion), Portugal ($17.8 billion), Belgium ($15.3 billion), Netherlands ($14.7 billion), Sweden ($12.7 billion), Poland ($12.3 billion), Ireland ($11.1 billion), Croatia ($10.1 billion), South Africa ($10.5 billion), Czechoslovakia ($7.6 billion), Hungary ($7.5 billion), Denmark ($7.0 billion), Norway ($6.5 billion) and Luxembourg ($5.5 billion).
The report says China's relatively modern economic advancement makes Chinese citizens more affluent, as well as creates a larger middle class that does not stop growing, This makes the Chinese spend on tourism in other countries about $164.9 billion annually, more than any other people.
Americans come second, spending $145.7 billion on tourism, followed by Germans at $106.6 billion, Britons $79.9 billion and French $59.4 billion.