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Spotlight on the Kingdom’s ambitious USD 1 tn tourism initiative: Bloomberg is out with an interview with UN Tourism Special Advisor to the Secretary General, Anita Mendiratta, highlighting Saudi’s USD 1 tn tourism initiative (watch, runtime: 7:53). Mendiratta has also been holding an advisory board role in Alula since 2018.
“You can’t have this much consistent transformation if it’s not real, this is real,” said Mendiratta, adding that the government wants to make sure that “visitors to the Kingdom are enjoying international standards but Saudi style.”
“Domestic and regional tourism is always the backbone,” she said, highlighting that focusing on these segments ensures repeat visits and a year-round tourism economy. Some 80% of last year’s record 100 mn tourists were made up of domestic and regional tourists, she added. While “international tourists are important in terms of revenues and arrivals and international reputation,” focusing solely on this type of tourism would result in greater tourist concentration during holiday periods and result in “institutionalizing seasonality and institutionalizing labor challenges,” Mendiratta noted.
MEANWHILE- The new Investment Law also got ink in the businesses news information service. We have everything you need to know about the revamped legislation here.
