RIYADH: As the travel and tourism industry plays a key role in the global economy’s recovery from the pandemic, Saudi Arabia is moving forward in this sector through cooperation and investment, a key minister has confirmed.
As global leaders gathered at the World Travel and Tourism Council summit in Riyadh, Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih said his ministry and the Public Investment Fund were supporting the tourism sector as part of the Kingdom’s diversification strategy. Is.
“We are investing in this for the greater good. Obviously, the impact on the state of the country is immense,” he said during an appearance on a discussion panel.
Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih
He said the industry accounts for a double-digit proportion of global GDP and the sector affects all aspects of the economy.
“We saw during the pandemic that if the sector loses, everybody loses – society loses, the macro economy loses, and the spillover effect is quite incredible,” he said, adding that anyone with a macro number of 10 per sector should not be measured completely. 12, or 15 percent of GDP.
Despite the perception that travel and tourism is a tough industry and was one of the last to recover from the pandemic, the minister said it is a sector where one can make money, irrespective of one’s position in the value chain.
collaborative approach
Speaking on the same panel, the Kingdom’s deputy minister of tourism, Princess Haifa Al Saud, stressed the need for collaboration as the tourism industry recovers from the pandemic.
“This means we must all have a vision, set clear goals, and work together to deliver – which is what we are doing in Saudi Arabia today,” he said, adding that this is why That Kingdom is the fastest growing economy within the G20 countries. tourism, with an increase of 121 percent according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
He revealed that during the presidency of the G20, Saudi Arabia was the first country to bring the public and private sectors to the table to deal with the post-pandemic issues.
Princess Haifa Al Saud, Deputy Minister of State for Tourism
The Deputy Minister said that the government is amending its rules and policies as per the need of the industry after getting feedback from the private sector.
“For example, the hotel classification criteria that we launched three years ago are being revised based on the feedback received from the private sector as we understand that one size does not fit all,” she said.
Rajkumari also revealed that the government is going to launch 28 initiatives this year to facilitate investors’ journey through ease of doing business.
Zurab Pololikashvili, secretary-general of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, who was also part of the panel discussion, said two years ago no one knew when the world would recover from the pandemic.
“People were saying we will recover in 2027; some of them were saying 2023. But the first nine months of this year showed that 700 million passengers have returned. It is 65% of our best year in 2018-19. percentage.” Told.
Anthony Capuano, CEO of Marriott International, agreed that anyone who had questions about travel flexibility had an answer to those questions. “The speed at which travel has recovered is remarkable,” he said.
He pointed out that the recovery has been uneven, however, adding: “In many markets around the world, we’ve seen exceptionally strong recoveries. The opening of borders has been a catalyst for that recovery. But we look at Greater China, zero- Covid policy continues to slow down reform in a meaningful way.”
tourism investment
Many countries, while working on their post-recovery plans, chose to spend on sectors other than tourism first, a trend that Saudi Arabia bucked.
According to Certares founder and senior managing director, Greg O’Hara, the Kingdom is fully committed to investing in its own tourism infrastructure, and argued that the world is going to change as all developing countries become more wealthy. have been
Where and how they are going to travel will be completely different, he added. Saudi Arabia is betting on itself and the rest of the world to deliver passengers,” O’Hara said.