The Kingdom has achieved an outstanding achievement in the tourism sector. It made a big leap in the ranking of the countries most receiving international tourists, advancing 12 places, and reaching 13th place in 2022 compared to 25th place in 2019, as the number of international tourists coming to the Kingdom reached 16.6 million tourists for all purposes in 2022, according to the report issued by the Tourism Organization. Globalism.
The Kingdom also advanced 16 places in the international tourism revenue index to reach the 11th place in 2022 compared to the 27th place in 2019 in the world, according to the World Tourism Barometer report for May 2023 issued by the World Tourism Organization.
And the Kingdom continued its international achievements in the field of tourism, as the Kingdom received about 7.8 million international tourists for all purposes during the first quarter of 2023, which represents the highest historical quarterly performance, achieving a growth of 64% compared to the same period in 2019, and thus the Kingdom achieved the second place among the list of countries with the most tourism. growth worldwide during the period, according to the most recent data received by the organization from countries.
The Minister of Tourism, Ahmed bin Aqil Al-Khatib, confirmed that this achievement is in addition to the successes achieved by the Kingdom in various fields, as a culmination of the directives of the wise leadership represented by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his crown prince, in striving to strengthen the Kingdom’s position on the map of global tourism. And raise its contribution to the gross domestic product in accordance with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
Al-Khatib pointed out that developing visas and facilitating their procedures, in addition to promotional efforts in the target countries, and the diversity of tourism options and destinations in the Kingdom were among the reasons for achieving these achievements.
He stressed that the ministry will continue its efforts in cooperation with all partners from the public and private sectors in order to move forward in achieving the aspirations of the wise leadership to make the Kingdom a global tourism destination.
It is noteworthy that the Kingdom had earlier achieved a new achievement within the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) issued by the World Economic Forum (WEF), as it jumped globally to 33rd place, advancing 10 ranks at once, compared to 2019.
