Minister Al-Khateeb: Saudi Arabia set to change global tourism map with highest investments worth $800 billion

Minister Al-Khateeb: Saudi Arabia set to change global tourism map with highest investments worth $800 billion

Saudi Gazette ReportMUSCAT — Saudi Minister of Tourism and Chairman of the Executive Council of the UN Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb said that Saudi Arabia is investing $800 billion to establish tourism projects and destinations.“This will be the highest number of tourism investments in the world,” he said while emphasizing that Saudi Arabia will change the global tourism map. “The opportunities and facilities that we provide to investors will make the tourism sector more attractive, and we are proceeding in a distinctive way in building the sector,” he said.The minister made the remarks while addressing the conference under the theme “Investing in tourism: opportunities and challenges in sustainable financing,” which is being held on the sidelines of the 50th UN Tourism Regional Commission for the Middle East in the Oman capital Muscat.He said that Saudi Arabia aims to add more than 250,000 rooms in the tourism hospitality sector over the coming years, and this represents an addition to tourism in the region. He stressed that Saudi Arabia has begun to develop the tourism sector as part of the Saudi Vision 2030. “The development efforts have succeeded in raising the sector’s contribution from three percent of the Saudi economy to 4.5 percent