Saudi Arabia expects 50 mln visits in 2022: Minister

Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb

Saudi Arabia has already started the recovery journey, and it will continue to 2023 and 2024, said Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al Khateeb, expecting the Kingdom to receive 50 million visits in 2022, Bloomberg reported. 
 

The minister revealed that a new center focused on sustainable tourism will be launched as part of efforts announced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently. 
 

Al Khateeb also said the tourism sector is on pace to account for more than 4% of economic output this year, up from 3.5% in 2019.
 

“We live in a very competitive environment, regional and global,” he said. “Therefore, we will continue the reforms, we will never stop the reforms.”
 

Because of the pandemic, most of the 45 million tourist visits it expects this year will be by residents, he noted.