Riyadh: Saudi Arabia's tourism sector is witnessing rapid growth with several mega projects springing up across the kingdom. Amid the global meltdown, smart investors have earmarked the kingdom as the next potential bright spot for tourism.
Several investors and businessmen are concentrating on this vital sector and are implementing multi-billion riyal projects.
They include several resorts on the Red Sea coast in the western region and on the coast of the Arabian Gulf, in addition to the southern Aseer region and the tourist destination of Taif.
Tourism spending in the last year exceeded 74 billion riyals, according to a report by the Tourism Information Research Centre.
Tourism is a sector in which huge investments are being made in response to the growing demand and the huge revenues generated by these projects.
The Saudi Travel and Tourism Mart 2009, which was formally launched in Riyadh on Sunday, is exploring the prospect of attracting more investments in the sector. Several papers focusing on exchanges of expertise between Saudi and foreign investors as well as the findings of researches and studies, are being presented.
The government has approved plans for a number of tourism projects on the Red Sea coast in Ras Humaid, Sharma, Qayyal and Dhaffat Al Wajh in Tabuk province, Arrayes in Yanbu, Ras Muhaisen in Makkah province, Haridha in Asir and Farasan in Jizan, in addition to a number of projects on the Arabian Gulf coast.
Majid Abdul Mohsin Al Hokeir, member of the Tourism Development Council in the Riyadh Region, and chairman of the Tourism Committee in the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, sees a bright future for investments in tourism.
Pinning great hope on the potential of tourism, Al Hokeir, a leading Saudi investor in the sector, says that investments in tourism will be more successful over the coming decades.
"The Saudi economy is witnessing robust growth and a major leap in investment in general. Of late, we have noticed an unprecedented boom in the tourism sector in particular. The market has enough potential enough to accommodate more tourism investment projects," he said, although the tourism sector is facing several challenges. '
"A large number of Saudis go abroad for their vacations. They spend huge amounts of money abroad rather than in the kingdom," Al Hokeir said, and this is the major challenge facing domestic tourism.
Dr Salah Al Bakheet, deputy chairman of the Supreme Commission for Tourism, said that there is a wide variety of mechanisms and incentives given by the commission to encourage investment. He said that there are 12,000 major tourism landmarks and destinations identified by the commission nationwide.
