Saudi Arabia plans to resume tourist visas by early 2021 after months of suspension amid strict government measures to stop the spread of coronavirus, the kingdom’s tourism minister told Reuters.
Tourism may be a key pillar of Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ambitious reform strategy to scale back the economy’s dependence on oil.
The kingdom, which opened its doors to foreign tourists in September 2019 by launching a replacement visa regime for 49 countries, wants the world to contribute 10per cent of gross domestic product by 2030.
“For tourist visa, so far we are talking about early next year. If things recover or if any positive developments happen with regards to the vaccine, we'd accelerate and have it earlier,” Ahmed al-Khateeb said during a virtual interview.
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In late-February the dominion closed its borders to foreign pilgrims and to tourists from a minimum of 25 countries. In March, it barred all travel in and out of the country.
Khateeb said the tourism sector has been hit hard and is predicted to ascertain a 35 to 45pc decline by year end. the main target on domestic tourism during the summer has cushioned the blow, however.
“This pandemic may be a systematic risk that has hit everyone; however, we've seen a really strong summer after the January-May lockup period,” Khateeb said.
“We have noticed a growth of 30pc year on year in domestic tourism which is beyond our expectations.”
The Saudi Summer campaign, which promoted 10 tourist destinations — from beaches and forests to mountain peaks and historic areas — for citizens and residents to go to in lieu of holidaying abroad, helped boost average occupancy ratio at hotels to 80pc.
Saudi Arabia has reported 332,790 Covid-19 cases and 4,655 deaths thus far . Infection rates have seen a gentle decline over the past few weeks.
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