Tourism
From The Report: Saudi Arabia 2015
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Tourism is estimated to have directly contributed $12.7bn to the Saudi economy in 2013, equivalent to 1.7% of GDP, and this was forecast to rise by 5.2% to $13.3bn in 2014. Although religious tourism still dominates the industry, government efforts are under way to expand the sector’s offering, with opportunities available in various segments, including heritage and business tourism. Domestic tourism has surged in recent years with spending seeing a compound annual growth rate of 15% between 2010 and 2014. Indeed, current ambitions for non-religious tourism are directed towards serving the domestic market – both Saudi and expatriate – for whom spending almost doubled between 2010 and 2014, from $15.7bn to $27.4bn.

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Overview

Stable growth: While expanding hotel capacity, the Kingdom is developing niche segments in partnership with the private sector
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With millions of Muslims arriving every year to visit the Holy Cities of Makkah and Medina, Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector is characterised to a large degree by religious pilgrimage. However, while significant investments continue to be made to meet growing demand from this segment, the Kingdom’s tourism authorities are also hard at work expanding the tourist economy into new areas. In particular, the growth in demand for domestic tourism is opening the way for investment in resorts and facilities,…

Analysis

Planning for the future: Tourism authorities look to improve standards and build capacity
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Despite playing host to a plethora of natural and cultural attractions, the Kingdom’s tourism sector remains relatively under-developed and is largely limited to the religious pilgrim market centred on Makkah and Medina. The legacy of this under-development is particularly felt in the regulation of the sector. The Kingdom’s regulatory body, the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), was established as recently as 2000. Moreover, for the first 15 years of its existence the SCTA…

Analysis

Untapped potential: Investors hope new destinations will help grow the domestic market
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Domestic tourism in Saudi Arabia has enjoyed something of a surge in recent years, with spending rising from SR59bn ($15.7bn) in 2010 to SR103bn ($27.5bn) in 2014 – representing compound annual growth of 15%. Yet, taken on an individual basis, Saudis continue to spend significantly less per domestic trip than they do when travelling abroad: excluding transport costs, Saudis on average spend SR3631 ($968) per foreign trip, compared with SR1896 ($505) on leisure trips at home, according to statistics…