Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the Ministry of Investment, has unveiled the Hospitality Sector Investment Enablers Initiative, an ambitious project to increase and diversify tourism offerings and destinations across the Kingdom.
The initiative aims to attract investments in the hospitality sector, with a value of around SAR 42 billion ($11.2 billion), projecting estimated revenues of about SAR 16 billion ($4.3 billion) to the Kingdom’s GDP by 2030.
As part of this drive to boost the tourism sector, Minister of Tourism Ahmed bin Aqeel Al-Khateeb has unveiled the Tourism Investment Enablers Program, designed to facilitate business practices and enhance investment attractiveness for both local and international investors.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia boasts rich and diverse tourism wealth, making its tourism industry globally attractive,” Al-Khateeb stated. “We witnessed a 390% increase in demand for tourism activity licenses last year, marking the beginning of the Kingdom’s significant investment in the tourism sector over the next decade, providing opportunities and a conducive investment environment for both local and international investors.”
The initiative encompasses strategically prepared enablers to improve the cost and ease of doing business, such as facilitating access to government lands under favourable conditions, streamlining project development processes, finding solutions to investor challenges, and developing laws to reduce operational costs.
The initiative is anticipated to result in an increase in the number of hotel rooms by approximately 42,000, creating around 120,000 job opportunities in targeted destinations by 2030.
One of the Kingdom’s largest tourist initiatives is the NEOM complex. It includes the Zardun Nature Resort, a new mountain-to-beach destination spanning four square kilometres; Aquellum, a futuristic underground community; and a new Raffles mountainside retreat in Trojena, among many others.
