Spending on tourism in Saudi Arabia hits $32 bln

According to figures issued by the Kingdom's Tourism Information and Research Center (MAS), domestic tourism in Saudi Arabia reached SAR 46.3 billion in 2018, while inbound tourism amounted to SAR 75.2 billion, totaling SAR 121.5 billion ($32 billion) for 2018.

This is what the Saudi tourism index revealed for the first two months of 2019:

- Domestic tourism trips in 2018 reached 42.7 million trips.

- Inbound tourism trips reached 15.3 million trips.

- Domestic tourism trips in January and February 2019 amounted to 8.3 million, up 4.7 percent year-on-year (YoY) from 7.9 million a year earlier.

- Total number of nights spent in the Kingdom in January and February 2019 reached 40.8 million nights.

- Total spending on domestic tourism in the first two months of 2019 reached SAR 8.9 billion, up 2.9 percent YoY.

- Total spending on inbound tourism for the period amounted to SAR 12.5 billion, a 13.6 percent YoY increase.