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The Kingdom welcomed 27.4 mn foreign tourists in 2023 — up 64.8% y-o-y, according to the Tourism Ministry’s dashboard. Tourist spending from both domestic and inbound tourism also 24.3% y-o-y to SAR 255.6 bn over the same period, with domestic tourists accounting for SAR 114.4 bn and inbound tourists spending around SAR 141.2 bn during the year, the ministry’s statistics indicate.
GCC tourists came to Saudi in droves: Some 8.6 mn tourists came from neighboring Gulf countries, accounting for 31.5% of all inbound tourists. These tourists spent a little over SAR 15 bn in the Kingdom — around 10.6% of all inbound tourist spending. Tourists from Asia were a close second at 7.9 mn tourists, but spent the most in the country at SAR 55.1 bn. Middle East tourists were the second-highest spenders at SAR 32.9 bn.
Inbound tourist numbers peaked in December, with 2.9 mn people landing in the Kingdom and spending SAR 10.6 bn during the last month of the year. Spending, however, peaked in June with a total of SAR 30.3 bn in spending from the 2.85 mn inbound tourists during the summer month.
Religious tourism took the lion’s share of tourist spending and visits, with 11.6 mn pilgrims spending SAR 77.4 bn during their visits. Business travel brought in 1.9 mn visitors spending SAR 12.8 bn throughout the year.
REMEMBER- We have big tourism ambitions: The Tourism Ministry doubled its target for 2030 earlier this year, hoping now to be host to 150 mn tourist trips after it hit its target last year ahead of schedule. The new 2030 target sees 80 mn by domestic travelers and 70 mn by international travelers. The ministry also launched in May a program to make it easier for foreign and domestic investors to get licenses for a range of activities, with fees and procedures pegged to the type and scale of operations in the hospitality sector. The government is investing some USD 800 bn into the tourism sector under plans to build new future destinations, including Neom, the Red Sea, Diriyah, and Qiddiya, among others.
