The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia participated yesterday in the G20 Tourism Ministers' Meeting held in Japan in the presence of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), Ahmad bin Aqil Al-Khatib. During the meeting, the Chairman of SCTH delivered a speech in which he spoke about the Kingdom's Vision on the future of the Saudi tourism sector, reviewing the Kingdom's strategy to develop the emerging tourism sector in line with the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, which seeks to build a prosperous society and a diversified economy. He stressed that the Kingdom is committed to enhancing the contribution of tourism to the United Nations sustainable development goals, pointing out that the plan to develop the tourism sector in the Kingdom will be one of the main priorities of the discussions when Saudi Arabia presides over the G20 summit in 2020. Al-Khatib expressed his thanks and appreciation to the Japanese government for providing an opportunity to review the Kingdom's tourism priorities. He also stated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as one of the emerging tourist destinations, is opening its doors to the world and it recognizes the value of tourism in the Kingdom as a catalyst for economic growth and a bridge of cultural communication that promotes awareness, harmony and respect. He stressed that tourism must be sustainable to benefit future generations, noting that the Kingdom's strategy is to increase the contribution of the tourism sector in the GDP from 3% to 10%, in addition to increasing the number of visitors to the Kingdom from 18 million visitors to 100 million by 2030. These steps will contribute to the creation of 1.6 million jobs, representing 10% of the total workforce, targeting mostly youth, stressing his commitment to working with partners throughout the tourism system to achieve these goals and protect economic, environmental and social welfare of local communities.
