Saudis make up 26% of total employees in tourism sector

Saudis make up 26% of total employees in tourism sector

RIYADH — Bandar Al-Safeer, director general of Training and Nationalization of Jobs at the Ministry of Tourism, said that the number of Saudis working in the Kingdom's tourism sector reached around 189,000 out of the total 726,000 employees in this sector, and this represents 26 percent of the total workforce in the tourism sector.Addressing a virtual meeting organized by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he said that the ministry aims to raise the gross domestic product (GDP) of the tourism sector to 5.3 percent in 2022 and about 10 percent in 2030.“It also aims to have the number of inflow of tourists reach 32.5 million in 2022 and about 43 million in 2030. The number of visits of Saudi tourists to outside the Kingdom is expected to reach 29.5 million in 2022 and about 55 million in 2030,” he said. Al-Safeer said that the ministry has identified 15 programs to boost domestic tourism sector, and these included six programs for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), some of which were launched, some are in the process of being launched while some others will be launched in future.These programs were represented in the tourism scholarship program; training program ends in