The Saudization of travel agencies is on course and 81 percent of positions in the travel sector are expected to be Saudized within three years, Prince Sultan Bin Salman, President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), has said. Prince Sultan said this at the opening of a travel agency in Riyadh Sunday. He added that the SCTA was working to Saudize other fields such as tourist accommodation and tourist travel organizers. The SCTA chief noted that all tourist guide positions were occupied by Saudi nationals. Prince Sultan also spoke of efforts to increase the number of flights across the country and improve ticket reservation efficiency, further noting that SCTA and the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation's standards qualify trainees for employment not only in the Kingdom, but also globally. 172 train in craft program The National Project for the Development of Tourist Human Resources in SCTA in Taif has completed a number of training programs on handicrafts in different regions of the Kingdom with 172 craftsmen and women being trained during the first quarter of 2009. Dr. Abdullah Bin Sulaiman Al-Wushail, Director General of the national program, said that the training programs were carried out in collaboration with a number of authorities and charitable societies and in coordination with and follow-up by regional tourism bodies. Al-Wushail added that the project designs its plans and training programs according to a number of requirements most important of which is focusing on those handicrafts and trades which are specialties of the different regions, creating awareness of the importance of those handicrafts as products that can be marketed to tourists from within the Kingdom and abroad in addition to the objective of protecting these handicrafts from extinction. – Okaz/SG (With reports from Muhammad Sa'eed Al-Zahrani and Faisal Al
