‎A look at tourist arrivals, spending in 2015-2021

‎A look at tourist arrivals, spending in 2015-2021

The total number of domestic and inbound tourists to Saudi Arabia in 2021 amounted to more than 67.3 million, an increase of 46% compared to 2020, according to the latest data from the Saudi Ministry of Tourism.

The number of domestic tourists accounted for the largest percentage of the total in 2021, reaching about 63.85 million tourists, an increase of 52% year-on-year (YoY).

Further, the number of inbound tourists reached 3.48 million, up 16% YoY.

The years 2020 and 2021 coincided with the COVID pandemic and its repercussions that affected the travel and tourism sector worldwide.

In 2021, the total spending of tourists amounted to more than SAR 95.6 billion, a rise of 51% compared to 2020, when their total spending reached SAR 63.5 billion.

The spending of domestic tourists in 2021 represented 84.6% of total expenditure, while that of inbound tourists constituted 15.4% of the total, as shown in the following table:

In 2021, Makkah was the most attractive to domestic tourists, with about 13.53 million tourists spending about SAR 19.32 billion. Riyadh followed with 9.21 million tourists that spent SAR 12.28 billion.

The 2021 Hajj season saw a total of 60,000 pilgrims who were limited to residents and nationals living in the Kingdom due to