Biggest contributor to the non-oil sector is tourism, Saudi Tourism Authority CEO says
We come to every global trade show not just the ATM with all our partners and the the sellers to the buyers of the world and we’re we’ve been, we’ve witnessed the growth year in year out. We’ve been the fastest growing destination for the past five years and we exceeded 103 million visits in 23. But more importantly January, February and March have all been record high on inbound. So we want to tell our three partners, thank you. We want to grow our business partnerships and we want to grow the number of suppliers into to this to every market we go to. So today in ATM we come with 72 partners that are offering experiences capacity from aviation to accommodation to things to do from all destinations. Last year in ATM we had sixty partners that came with us and we just want to make sure that the our trade partners are recognized, are thanked and are empowered and we keep the story growing. There is a huge amount of investment going into the tourism industry and sector in Saudi Arabia. What do the latest numbers tell us about the return on that investment? So far so if you look at the the non oil GDP contribution to sectors in Saudi, the non oil revenue today represents 50% of total GDP. It’s the highest ever, but the highest contributor to the non oil sectors is tourism. So it has been the most rewarding economically for us. But if you think about the number of the average spent of travellers in 23, we increased the average spent per traveller by 20%. So numbers are growing, spend per per traveller is growing and the economic contribution is the highest of all sectors in diversifying our economy. So when we say tourism is the new oil, it’s a reality. So how do you address some of the misconceptions around travelling to and visiting Saudi Arabia? And is this still a barrier for you and some of the people that you are attempting to target? I think the best thing about tourism is, is reality speaks for itself. When people come, they actually see and all of a sudden the the preconceptions are corrected. All travellers, when they go to a place and discover and learn something new, they take pictures, they carry their stories back home and they tell our story in their own voices. And I can tell you, all the travellers that have come to Saudi have given us some great NPS scores, as in they would come again. And we started seeing very healthy repeats specifically from the region. Now in the last quarter of 23, we started seeing mid hall destinations like from Europe, from the US like UK jumped 5 ranks in the top ten source markets. the US is now the 5th largest source market to Saudi. This is this is phenomenal change and why the the perception about Saudi as a brand will take will still continue taking time. Like any new brand in any sector, the growth is phenomenal and the story is going to be best told by the travelers and the tourists themselves.