Saudi Arabia’s tourism revenue touched US$10bn at the beginning of 2023, as the country continues to grow its travel and tourism sector.

The first quarter of 2023 saw a 225 percent growth compared to the same period in 2022. That amounted to SAR37bn ($9.9bnbn), as per Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) data.

There were almost 7.8 million tourists during the first quarter of 2023, the highest quarterly performance ever. The same period in pre-pandemic 2019 was 64 percent lower.

Saudi is growing its tourism sector as it diversifies its national economy in line with the National Tourism Development Strategy and goals of Saudi Vision 2030.

The Kingdom has also advanced 16 places in the international tourism revenue index in the past few years, reaching 11th place in 2022, compared to 27th in 2019.

Source: Hotelier Middle east