Saudi Arabia inks tourism projects worth $89m

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's biggest economy, signed contracts worth 334 million Saudi riyals ($89 million, Dh326.9 million) to develop tourism projects as the kingdom tries to attract more visitors, the Saudi Press Agency said.

The contracts include building five new regional museums and restoring historical sites, the news service said, citing Ahmad Bin Abdullah Al Shehri, director of procurement and contract management at the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities.

The new museums are to come up in the cities of Dammam, Hail, Tabuk, Asir and Al Baha, the news service said.

Revenue forecast

Saudi Arabia plans to have 2 million tourism jobs within 10 years, up from 457,000, as it promotes its Red Sea coastline and historical sites, including Madain Saleh, as tourist destinations, according to the commission.

Tourism revenue is forecast to increase to 118 billion riyals in 2015, compared with 66 billion riyals last year, the Saudi Press Agency reported in June.

Saudi Arabia wants to develop its tourism industry as it tries to diversify its economy away from oil and to create jobs.

The unemployment rate is as high as 43 per cent for Saudis between the ages of 20 and 24.

Saudi Arabia announced in November that it had discovered a Pharaonic inscription in its northwest province of Tabuk. The artifact had a hieroglyphic inscription of a signature from Ramses III, a king who ruled ancient Egypt between about 1192 BC and 1160 BC.

Saudi Arabia received 1.8 million visitors last year from 181 countries for the annual Haj pilgrimage, according to the Saudi Press Agency.