The tourism industry in the Kingdom is picking up steam with a new strategy to attract a high inflow of 25 percent of total domestic tourists of foreign tours by 2025. It might be one generation away, but work has already begun. The Supreme Commission of Tourism (SCT) has launched an ambitious plan to develop the virgin areas along the Kingdom's 1800-km long Red Sea coast at a cost of nearly SR150 billion to position the area as a premier vacation destination. The new strategy was authorized as part of a comprehensive package by the Council of Ministers to establish a multitude of coast attractions along the Red Sea. Prince Sultan Bin Salman, Secretary General of the SCT, said that this ambitious development project of the Red Sea coast would continue through 2025. “It will be gradually executed to yield desired results,” he said. As a wealth of resorts, attractions, and recreational facilities along the Red Sea would be tucked between and behind modern concrete monoliths, the development plan has sought to keep the coast's natural beauty intact, he said. New resorts will be established in Arrayes in Yanbu, Ras Muhaisen in the Makkah region, Haridha in the Asir region, Farsan in Jizan, and Ras Humaid, Sharma, Qayyal and Dhaffat Al Wajh in the Tabuk region Standing on equal footing with world-class tourism projects to pave the way for a complete tourist experience, the development plan is also expected to provide more than 557,000 hotel rooms and 413,000 job opportunities. As approved by the Council of Ministers, the new strategy involves other government agencies including the Ministry of Defense and Aviation, the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, and the General Presidency of the Meteorological and Environment Protection, and the National Authority for Wildlife Protection. As the SCT plans its future projects, it has already geared its efforts to raise the bar for this year's summer experience. With its new responsibly to supervise hotels and rental apartments, the Commission has recently held a workshop to discuss a new mechanism for their overall operations; a job that was handed over to the Commission from the Ministry of Commerce. “We have many projects in the development program, including the foundation project to upgrade the hotel industry, including its training and future expansion plans,” said Dr. Salah Bakhiet, Deputy Secretary General of SCT for Investment. The Commission has obtained stats to build a database for connecting all hotels and rental apartments in the Kingdom in one integrated network, he said. As the number of tourists and visitors to the Kingdom has increased, so has the number of hotels opening the door for unprecedented business opportunities in the Kingdom, he said. The tourism sector, including Haj and Umrah, currently contributes six percent to the Kingdom's GDP, or SR55 billion. The new resorts are expected to attract about 19 percent of total domestic tourists. Annual tourist spending is valued at SR9.9 billion. To further its efforts to boost its tourism economy, the Commission has responded with a program called ‘Attracting Investment' which helps both small and big tourism investment firms to find profitable business opportunities in the new development program along the Red Sea, Bakhiet said. __
