Travel agencies can now issue Saudi tourism visas

Travel agencies in the category D in Saudi Arabia can now issue visas to tourists and for educational or medical treatment purposes in the country, according to Sabq online newspaper.

The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) in Jeddah issued the first license allowing a travel agency in category D to issue such visas, the online daily said.

The new inclusion, allows all the four categories of licensed travel agencies in Jeddah (A, B, C and D) to offer services such as the sale, purchase and issuance of travel tickets and to market tourist trips provided by tour organisers as well as handling tourist and educational visas.

Meanwhile, the SCTH has launched a programme for restoring and reviving 34 historic mosques in the area of Al-Diriya, Al-Hayat newspaper reported.

It added that the total number of historic mosques restored since the launch of the programme stands at 79, which includes the 100-year-old Al-Maarik Mosque in Buraidah.