Riyadh: Saudi Arabia will soon issue licences to tourist guides, according to Prince Sultan Bin Salman, secretary general of the Higher Tourism Authority (HTA).
He also announced that 15 new companies have been short-listed to operate in the tourism sector, and their names will be announced at the forthcoming Dubai tourism conference.
Speaking to reporters, Prince Sultan unveiled a string of measures being taken to promote tourism in the country. Talks will be held with representatives of leading international travel and tourism companies, which are operating in the Middle East region, on the sidelines of the Dubai conference.
Cooperation
"The talks will focus on forging alliances in the tourism sector. We will also announce the names of 15 new companies which are qualified to operate in the Kingdom, besides seeking cooperation with other companies," he said.
He said HTA is completing procedures for issuing licences, for the first time, for those who are willing to work as tourist guides. "I will issue a licence for myself before issuing licences to anybody else. I am now in the process of completing studies about the tourist programmes and destinations in the Kingdom so that I may be qualified to act as a tourist guide," he said amid laughter.
Top priority
Prince Sultan admitted that there are inadequacies in the quality of services being extended to both domestic and foreign tourists in the Kingdom.
While reiterating the determination of the authority to give top priority to addressing this problem, he said that measures will be taken after restructuring of HTA in the near future.
Referring to complaints about the high cost of tourism services in the Kingdom, the HTA chief said that the higher authorities had entrusted the HTA with the task of carrying out studies about this issue.
"We have completed the studies and an announcement will be made shortly. It has been revealed in the study that Saudi Arabia is one of the countries with a high rate for tourism services," he said.
