The Kingdom is now on the threshold of a new stage of comprehensive development through which it focuses on a number of vital sectors, including tourism and investment in its forefront.

The Saudi Travel and Tourism Investment Market (STTIM 2014) has thus assumed greater significance as the Kingdom continues to make significant investments in its travel and tourism sector on the back of rapid economic growth.

Continuing to expand in its seventh year, STTIM 2014, which is being organized by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center (RICEC) from March 30 to April 4, will have a 40 percent larger display area this year, helping to underline its status as one of the most important in the region’s travel and tourism sector.

Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of SCTA, and Abdul Lateef bin Ahmed Al-Othman, governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), will attend the inauguration.

Prince Khalid bin Bandar, governor of Riyadh and chairman of the Riyadh Tourism Development Council, will declare open the grand events.

With the tourism sector contributing handsomely in the GDP growth at around 7 percent and creating job opportunities for the Saudi youth (1.8 million by 2020), according to official statistics, the Kingdom plans to invest SR300 billion to develop the country’s travel and tourism infrastructure by 2020, enabling the sector to play a bigger role in the diversification of the national economy toward sustainable development.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council projections, the Saudi travel and tourism sector has the potential to generate an income of more than $48 billion (SR180 billion) by 2022.

The Kingdom is all set to enter a new phase of comprehensive development with focus on travel and tourism sector as the vision of the STTIM 2014 cover all travel and tourism investment aspects in the Kingdom through a combined conference and exhibition aiming to present and promote the investment opportunities and tourism services and products under one roof offering an opportunity to the exhibitors to reach the lucrative travel and tourism market with the largest economy in the Middle East.

Considered a key source of income and the sector of invisible exports, the tourism sector also plays an important role in promoting economies, besides representing a concrete tributary and important source of national income and the growth of tourism sector leads to rise in job opportunities, paving the way for development of new professions and raising the levels of integration between different economic sectors.

Underlining the importance of the mega event, an SCTA official stated that a number of experts and specialists from the local and international, public and private sectors are going to address the importance of integrating tourism investment in the Kingdom and its role in stimulating and creating an appropriate environment for the advancement of the tourism sector, during the STTIM-2014.

In the dialogue session, the experts will discuss the direct and indirect economic impacts of tourism sector in addition to the integration of both public and private sectors for creating appropriate climate for tourism investment.

The discussion will also review the job opportunities that are generated by tourism investment’s projects, investment opportunities in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), mechanisms of investment opportunities in tourism, besides mechanism of communication between investors and creating relations integrated network between them and addressing the importance of stimulating the private sector investment in tourism.

Guest speakers include Salah Al-Bakheet, vice-president of SCTA for investment and tourism development, Osama Al-Mubarak, chief of Kafala program for financing SMEs, Mohammad Al-Katheri, secretary general of Riyadh Industrial chamber, John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist at MASIC, Abdul Wahab Al-Qahtani, professor of management studies at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, economic writer Hassan Al-Ganai, director general of Kuwaiti company for development of small enterprises, Sulaiman Al-Morshidi, director general of evaluation of Saudi Credit and Saving Bank.

The STTIM-2014 is scheduled to feature four major scientific sessions to be held as dialogue sessions in addition to over 35 events, workshops, training courses and lectures for the interest of the staff of different tourism sectors in which about 80 national and international experts and specialists will discuss the significant topics related tourism industry.

The sessions will focus on various topics such as the “Role of transportation in the stimulation and development of tourism sector,” “Reality and future of investment in tourism sector,” “Role of youth in the tourism sector” and “Entertainment and tourism.”

Martin Han, German expert on the concept of entertainment cities, along with an Indian expert in entertainment industry Prakash Vevekanand are set to discuss a number of issues related to the development of entertainment cities in the Kingdom within the events of STTIM-2014 under the theme ‘entertainment and tourism.’

The discussion will focus on the importance of harnessing all the efforts for the development of the tourism sector and making it one of the key tributaries of the national economy in order to achieve the objectives of the social and economic development plans in the forefront of which come the diversification of income sources, GDP growth and creating more job opportunities for the Saudi citizens.

Entertainment is considered one of the most important components of tourism in the Kingdom and sought by the Saudis and expatriates alike during the breaks and seasons and it is set by the planners of new cities as a top priority. To allow an easy participation in the upcoming STTIM-2014, the organizing committee has built an official website that can be reached via sttim.com.sa.

It includes detailed information on the mega event, programs and news in addition to providing live broadcast of its events, sessions and workshops besides video recording of the events, the committee added.

Since its inception in 2008, the STTIM has enjoyed consistent growth with the last edition recording an increase of 20 percent in terms of floor space.

This year, Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) is the strategic partner for the event, whereas the Al-Rajhi Aviation Group, for the first time has opted to join the sponsors list, which has also been joined by the Elaf group for travel, tourism and hotels and Al Hokair Group as key partner in STTIM-2014.

The companies and sponsoring authorities of the STTIM consider it as a prominent event that is dedicated for the development of tourism industry in the Kingdom, referring it as a great opportunity for a large number of sector relevant companies to show and market their tourism products.

The award ceremony of the Saudi Excellence in Tourism Awards will also be held on the sidelines of STTIM-2014 under the patronage of SCTA.