- Saudi Arabian National Day is always celebrated on September 23rd.
- Known locally as Al-Yaom-ul-Watany, it marks September 23rd 1932, when King Abdulaziz announced the unification of the country as a kingdom.
- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by King Abdulaziz (known as Ibn Saud in the West).
When anyone is asked these days about Saudi Arabia, thoughts about travel and tourism are equal to thoughts of oil and wealth.
This was very different before when the kingdom was only open for religious or business tourism.
From “no tourism”, Saudi Arabia reformed to “all about tourism” today.
Saudi Arabia not only became the most important regional player in the travel sector but is, without a doubt, one of the most important global players.
Hosting regional offices such as UNWTO, WTTC, the country is spending billions of dollars to not only rescue its own sector but in assisting the world.
The Saudi Interest Group by the World Tourism Network under the leadership of HRH Dr Abdulaziz Bin Naser Al Saud and Raed Habbis has at the most active WhatsApp Discussion Group currently seen at WTN.
Saudi Arabia was hoping to become a new home for the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Having UNWTO headquartered in the Kingdom would underline the global status as a global tourism leader for Saudi Arabia.
When a Saudi Crown Prince and a Spanish PM talk it could be important for UNWTO business to stop such ambition by the Kingdom. UNWTO is headquartered in Spain, giving the Kingdom of Spain a global position in tourism, and a permanent seat in the UNWTO Executive Council.
It appears negotiations in regards to avoiding a move by Saudi Arabia to give UNWTO a new home are currently ongoing.
Europe, America, or China are nervous about Saudi Arabia stepping up where they often failed, but it creates hope in Africa, Asia, even in the Caribbean and other regions.
Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett was so happy with Saudi Arabia, that His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Aqeel AlKhateeb , Saudi Arabia was seen dancing with Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism Jamaica in the land of Bob Marley.
The global positioning of global tourism is clearly shifting, and it may very well shifting towards Saudi Arabia.
No other country in the world demonstrated such a global vision for this sector in the past. There is more than vision, there is money, lots of money.
When Saudi Arabia appears in a meeting, in a discussion, it becomes the focus of the meeting or discussion.
At the WTTC Sumit in Cancun in May the appearance of the Saudi Minister resulted in the WTTC CEO Gloria Guevara quitting her job at WTTC. She is now a top consultant for minister AlKhateeb, living in Riyadh, and celebrating the Saudi National Day today as a Mexican citizen.
It seems to go along with the image of a more open country ready to start a new brighter future when it comes to polishing its image on the global market.
Today the Kingdom celebrates its National holiday – and surely this is also a holiday with great importance to the travel and tourism sector everywhere.
Saudi Arabia united the four regions into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud.
Each year, September 23 is a chance for Saudi citizens to celebrate their cultural heritage and look toward the future. During national day festivities, streets throughout the country are saturated with green and white—the colors of the Saudi flag depicted in the Doodle artwork. Citizens can be seen adorned in these symbolic colors and displaying the national flag on cars and private homes.
Home to the birthplace of Islam and now undergoing a young social and economic revolution, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia celebrates its 91st birthday on September 23. The slogan for this year’s Saudi National Day is “A Home for Us”.
Saudi National Day is celebrated with folk dances, songs, and traditional festivities. Roads and buildings are decorated with Saudi flags, and people wear the national colors of green and white, and display balloons in the same.
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is a country in Western Asia. It spans the vast majority of the Arabian Peninsula, with a land area of approximately 2,150,000 km². Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East, and the second-largest country in the Arab world.
Tourism is seen as a modern vision for new growth.
The Ministry of Tourism announced that the Kingdom has opened its doors to foreign tourists and lift off the suspension of entry for tourist visa holders starting from August 1, 2021
The Kingdom is investing in tourism in a big way. The person behind the tourism vision is a minister with a truly global mindset, His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Aqeel AlKhateeb .
He is the Minister of Tourism for Saudi Arabia. He has over 25 years of experience in investment and financial services, during which he established, managed, and restructured a number of governmental agencies and companies. He is known for his ability to lead institutional transformation and achieve future visions efficiently and effectively.
Currently, he holds the positions
- Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Tourism Authority.
- Chairman of Board of Directors of the Tourism Development Fund.
- Chairman of the Committee of Quality of Life Program
- The Chairman of Board of Directors for the Saudi Fund for Development
- The Chairman of Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI).
- Secretary General and Member of the Board of Directors or Diriyah Gate Development Authority
- Secretary General and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of New Jeddah Downtown
- Member of the Board of Directors of the Public Investment Fund.
- Member of the Board of Directors of the General Organization for Military Industries.
- Member of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs.
- Member of the Board of Directors of Neom Company.
- Member of the Board of Directors of The Red Sea Development Company.
- Member of the Board of Directors of The National Development Fund.
Investment in the tourism sector is one of the pillars of the Saudi Vision 2030 and proof for persistence to move forwards to realize its aspirations and goals:
This includes:
- Investment in the sector contributes to creating investment opportunities that are profitable for local and foreign investors.
- We do not consider tourism as only a driver for the economic growth, but also as a bridge for cultural communication with the world, which can enhance the level of understanding and joint respect.
- Tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world. Over the past eight years, the tourism sector expanded in an average that exceeds the global average.
- According to statistics by the World Travel and Tourism Council, the sector contributes to some 10 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP).
- Last year, the tourist growth rate stood at 3.9 per cent, while the global economy achieved 3.2 per cent.
- It is expected for the tourism sector to grow by 3.7 per cent by 2029, which will contribute to more than $13 billion in the global economy that equals 11.5 per cent of the global GDP.
- The tourism sector supports 319 million jobs worldwide – which is around one of every 10 jobs around the world – and is responsible for creating one job from each five jobs that were provided over the past five years.
- At the international level, the tourism sector is considered the most comprehensive through the participation of the biggest proportion of the youth and women compared to the total workforce.
Work is underway to develop the main infrastructure and services in the Kingdom with the aim of meeting the increasing demand in a way that accords with the tourism strategy in the Kingdom:
– A total of 150,000 hotel rooms will be built over the coming three years. 70 percent of these hotels will be implemented by the private sector.
– The Kingdom, in cooperation with local and foreign investors and local investment funds, including the Tourist Development Fund, seeks to establish 500,000 hotel rooms across the Kingdom by 2030.
– Several memoranda of understanding with a total value exceeding 115 billion Saudi riyals have been signed to improve the infrastructure and increase the number of available hotel rooms.
– The Kingdom seeks to increase the absorptive capacity of the Kingdom’s airports by more than 100 million passengers annually.
Currently realities facing Saudi Arabia:
- The economic recession caused by the pandemic greatly affected the tourism sector, mainly the aviation and hotel sectors.
- The decline of passengers by 26 million.
- There are 200,000 jobs that were affected in the sector.
- The Kingdom has offered initiatives to support the economy with 120 billion Saudi riyals.
- Saudis in the sector have benefited from the initiative to support the salaries by the government.
- The Kingdom has launched an initiative to support the Saudis’ salaries at the private sectors with a total value of 9 billion Saudi riyals. This support has also targeted the tourism sector.
- An opportunity has been offered through the Ajeer programme to exchange benefits among facilities to limit damage.
- Fees related to the tourism and municipalities have been dropped.
- Hotels have welcomed more than 50,000 citizens who came back to the Kingdom through the initiative “the return of the citizen”, where they have been hosted in more than 13,000 hotel rooms for periods extending between one to two weeks.
- With the purpose of stimulating local tourism, the Kingdom has launched the Saudi Summer Season that covers 10 tourist destinations nationwide.
The Tourism Strategy in the Kingdom
The Kingdom has accredited the national strategy for tourism, which highlighted the main lines for the aspiration of the sector that accord with the Saudi Vision goals:
- We aim to increase the contribution of the tourism sector in the GDP from its current rate of 3 per cent to more than 10 per cent by 2030.
- The tourism sector targets creating additional one million jobs to reach 1.6 million jobs in the tourism sector by 2030.
- We target attracting 100 million local and international visits annually by 2030.
The Tourist Visa
- The Kingdom launched the tourist visa in September 2019, where citizens of 49 countries can receive the visa electronically, while holders of US, UK and Schengen visas can receive the visa upon arrival, and subjects of other countries can apply to attain the visa through visiting representatives of the Kingdom in their countries.
- The 49 countries amount for some 80 per cent of the tourist expenditure worldwide and host around 75 per cent of seekers of luxurious tourist trips in the world.
The Tourist Investment Fud
• What are the goals for establishing the Tourist Investment Fund?
– Establishing the Tourist Investment Fund aims at stimulating tourist investments in the Kingdom, diversifying income resources, increasing the contribution of the tourism sector in the GDP,and creating more jobs for Saudi males and females in the tourism sector, as well as contributing to welcoming more tourists into the Kingdom according to goals of the national strategy for tourism and the Saudi Vision 2030.
•What are the tools that the fund will use to finance and attract tourist investments?– The Tourist Investment Fund has been established with a capital of 15 billion Saudi riyals. The fund has also signed memoranda of understanding with local banks to finance tourist projects with at least 150 billion Saudi riyals.
The fund, in cooperation with investment banks, has founded funds to invest in various tourist sectors.
•What are the investment opportunities offered by the fund?
– One of the most important goals of the fund is to support and encourage tourist investments in the Kingdom.
In this sense, the fund opens cooperation aspects with investors directly through providing support to them in anything related to tourist projects that can lead to developing the tourism sector in various areas of the Kingdom, including various fields, such as hotels, restaurants and developing the tourist destinations, hospitality in general and trip organizers.
The fund also seeks to make the investment environment more attractive for the private sector and offering its support to receive more profitable schemes, which creates bigger investment opportunities in the Kingdom through renovating the tourist destination in a way that accords with the national strategy for tourism.
Moreover, the funds enjoy the main role in developing the tourism industry in general and stimulating more
Saudi males and females to get engaged in this sector with the aim of providing one million new jobs by 2030, in addition to increasing the contribution of the tourism sector in the Kingdom to 10 percent by 2030 up from its current rate of 3 percent, and planning to receive 100 million tourist visits.
• What are the finance solutions offered by the fund?
– The fund supports the private sector through offering investment loans, as well as investing in projects through owning shares in these schemes. The fund also provides guarantees on some projects.
– Support is also offered in some cases for distinguished and pioneer projects through providing all the aforementioned solutions. The fund, in coordination with relevant government agencies, contributes to providing plots of land for some important and essential projects.