Saudi Arabia Welcomes 116 mln Visitors in 2024
The ministry also released its 2024 Annual Statistical Report on Saudi Arabia's tourism sector to highlight key indicators of tourism activity and review the sector's growth during the year.
Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb stated that the report focuses on the efforts of the ministry and all stakeholders in Saudi Arabia's tourism ecosystem.
According to the report, total tourism spending for domestic and inbound travel recorded approximately SAR284 billion, marking an 11% year-over-year growth.
Furthermore, the Kingdom reached its highest-ever number of inbound tourists, with almost 30 million visitors in 2024, marking an 8% rise compared to 2023.
Meanwhile, inbound tourism spending in 2024 surged to SAR168.5 billion, up 19% from the previous year.
The Ministry of Tourism noted that this remarkable success was mainly driven by the efforts and support of the Saudi leadership in line with the Saudi Vision 2030.
As for domestic tourism, the ministry reported noticeable growth with 86.2 million domestic tourists in 2024, representing a 5% increase compared to 2023. The domestic tourism spending also reached SAR115.3 billion in 2024.
Related Topics:
Saudi Arabia Sets Ambitious Target: 70 Million Tourists by 2030
Eid Al-Adha Brings Influx of Tourists to Haql's Scenic Beaches, Parks
Saudi Arabia Targets Over 5M Chinese Tourists by 2030
Short link :
Post Views: 19
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Leaders
3 hours ago
- Leaders
Saudi FM Receives Written Message from Russian Counterpart
The Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, has received a written message from the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The message addressed relations between Saudi Arabia and Russia and discussed ways to further consolidate them across all fields. The Russian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sergey Kozlov, on Wednesday handed the message to the Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister, Waleed Al-Khuraiji, at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Riyadh. Al-Khuraiji received the message on behalf of Prince Faisal bin Farhan. During the reception, Al-Khuraiji and Kozlov reviewed ties between Saudi Arabia and Russia and discussed topics of mutual interest. Earlier in July, Prince Faisal bin Farhan met with Lavrov during an official visit to Moscow. Both diplomats reviewed bilateral relations and the historical friendship between their nations. They also explored ways to further bolster ties and expand cooperation across various fields. Moreover, the two ministers discussed the recent developments in the region and efforts made to address them. Prince Faisal also praised the robust Saudi-Russian relations and the growing tourist activity between the two countries. 'We hope that the visa exemption agreement will significantly foster tourism cooperation and expand direct flights between both countries,' he said. Short link : Post Views: 10 Related Stories
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Saudi business delegation arrives in Damascus for Syrian-Saudi Investment Forum
A large Saudi business delegation arrived in Damascus on Wednesday to attend the Syrian-Saudi Investment Forum – being held at the request of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. According to Al Arabiya correspondent, the forum will kick off on Thursday. The forum aims to explore the potential of cooperation and deals to promote sustainable development. The visit is expected to see the signing of trade deals worth more than 15 billion Saudi riyals ($4 billion). During the visit, a cement factory in the industrial city of Adra in Damascus countryside will be launched. The delegation, led by Saudi Minister of Investment Khalid al-Falih, included over 100 business investors. The Saudi embassy in Damascus on Tuesday announced the introduction of special travel permits for businesspeople and investors from both countries, aimed at facilitating mutual visits and exploring investment opportunities.
Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
New Arabic data governance platform to ‘elevate local talent,' says Governata co-founder
RIYADH: A newly launched platform will allow Saudi companies to align their data regulations with national AI policies, supporting local talent, according to the company's co-founder. Governata enables companies to coordinate with the Kingdom's National Data Management Office, or NDMO, and Saudi Data and AI Authority, or SDAIA, guidelines. All data remains hosted domestically to ensure compliance and cost control. Governata co-founder, Djamel Mohand, spoke to Arab News about the company's localization strategy. Mohand emphasized three advantages for Saudi businesses. First, on talent development: 'They can leverage local talents better,' he said, through locally built software that used government initiatives such as MISK and SDAIA. This enabled 'thousands of homegrown data engineers, data specialists and other experts to be involved in improvement of these technologies, not only distribute global tech.' Second, on organizational adoption: 'The localization aspect enables businesses to use this technology across the whole organization,' which Mohand said required a high level of cultural understanding to engage multiple business owners for full impact. Third, addressing data sovereignty, Mohand said the 'local closed-loop setup protects standard solutions, as hosting the data on-premises or in the local cloud has become the norm. However, this is not enough if local businesses want to ensure full data protection.' Mohand added that the Kingdom was leading in AI through big investments in GPU imports, local data centers and computing power capabilities. However, he warned: 'A bottleneck to enablement will occur if data infrastructure and company management are not aligned.' Governata claims to address this challenge. Mohand said: 'Our mission is to prepare Saudi organizations to leverage all this AI power being created by the country's leadership. 'As we elevate organizational maturity in data management, we elevate local talent,' he added. Mohand said that the platform activated 'thousands of data scientists, software engineers, integration specialists, domain experts and business managers from Saudi Arabia's outstanding talent pool' while developing skills internally.
