DAMMAM: The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) in the Eastern Province has unveiled two strategic plans to boost tourism in the region. Abdullatif M. Al-Benayyan, Executive Director of the Provincial Tourism Council in the Eastern Province, the regional branch of SCTA, said the two strategic plans are, first, the strengthening of the role of the media in marketing the tourism industry in the region and, second, the setting up of strategies to develop more tourism sites and infrastructure in the province. Al-Benayyan addressed Saturday a forum on the role of media, major stakeholders in the tourism trade, and the Ministry of Culture and Information in improving and enhancing the growth and development of the tourism industry and its infrastructure in the Eastern Province. The forum was attended by media representatives, travel and tourism agencies, operators of furnished apartments, hotel and resort executives, and owners of commercial establishments in the region. “The Eastern Province tourist industry has huge potential for further growth, and SCTA is embarking on these two strategies to achieve our goal of making the national tourism industry contribute more to the Kingdom's economic growth in terms of increased spending by our local and international tourists,” Al-Benayyan said. He said local and international tourists visiting the Eastern Province spend SR10 billion annually, second only to Makkah and Medina in terms of tourist spending. “We can further increase the amount generated by visiting local and international tourists if the local media sector highlights the important tourism facilities and sites in the region, and other stakeholders like hotels, resorts, furnished apartments, and travel agencies do their share by further improving their facilities and services,” Al-Benayyan told Saudi Gazette. Al-Benayyan said 40 major tourism projects in the Eastern Province are now being developed and planned. Dr. Jassim Al-Yagout, Director of the Ministry of Culture and Information in the Eastern Province, said the Ministry, while it continues to promote local tourism, will also embark on an information drive to promote the tourism industry in the region. Abdullah Mufareh Al-Qahtani, a member of the tourism council at the Asharqia Chamber who represents the region in the furnished apartment sector, said the furnished apartment business has ample room to accommodate the influx of tourism. “Our sector has the capacity to provide more rooms for our local tourists; we are also building more furnished apartments as per demand of the tourist trade,” he said. There has been an increase in the number of local visitors from Riyadh and other parts of the Kingdom, 90 percent of them families, who periodically spend their holidays in the Eastern Province, according to Al-Benayyan. “In 2009, 4.6 million local tourists visited the Eastern Province, while foreign tourists numbering 2.2 million also came to the region during the same period to spend their holidays in major cities like Al-Khobar, Dammam, Jubail, and Al
