Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Saudi Arabia sees quick tourism rebound from coronavirus slump after domestic boom

Saudi Arabia sees quick tourism rebound from coronavirus slump after domestic boom

Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb has refused to revise visitor targets for 2021 despite global pandemic

Saudi Arabia is preparing for a quick rebound in tourism and hasn’t revised its visitor targets for 2021 despite the coronavirus pandemic, Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb said.

As the government prepares to reopen its borders to foreign tourists in January, the kingdom is using its presidency of the Group-of-20 biggest economies to facilitate a resumption of global travel, Al-Khateeb said in an interview on Saturday.

“If countries today open their borders, we will be fit to run fast, and this is the plan,” said Al-Khateeb, a key adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “We believe people want to travel and they will continue to travel, but we need countries to coordinate their actions.”

The pandemic forced Saudi Arabia to shut its borders in March, thwarting the government’s ambitions to expand its travel industry six months after allowing vacationers to visit the country for the first time.

While the number of international visitors slumped, a boom in domestic tourism surpassed official projections and helped offset that decline, he said.

Diversifying economy


Tourism is an important part of Saudi Arabia’s plans to diversify the oil-dependent economy. The virus has devastated the industry globally, with the World Travel and Tourism Council predicting the loss of 100 million jobs.

Official tourism targets for next year remain unchanged, Al-Khateeb said, and the government still plans to expand the sector to make up 10 percent of economic output by 2030.


“We built the ecosystem, we have the international campaigns ready, we have developed the visitor experience and we are ready to capture the numbers we promised to capture,” he said.

Al-Khateeb told Reuters in April that Saudi tourism could shrink as much as 45 percent this year. With leisure travel so new - the government granted about 500,000 visas before closing its borders - tourism mostly consists of Islamic religious pilgrimages, which were suspended in March.

Since then, a surge in domestic travel that was 50 percent larger than officials projected, helped save businesses and jobs, Al-Khateeb said.

Ten sites where the government chose to promote summer travel generated 8.6 billion riyals ($2.3bn) from June 25 to August 31, a 31 percent increase from last year, Al-Khateeb said. Hotel occupancy at those sites rose to about 80 percent over the summer, compared to just five percent earlier in the pandemic, he added.

A $4bn tourism development fund created by the government in June signed its first deal a few days ago, and has “five other projects in the pipeline before the end of the year,” Al-Khateeb said. The fund agreed to collaborate with Al Oula Group to finance the development of a five-star hotel operated by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc., part of a 40,000 square metre waterfront project in the city of Khobar.

The country launched its first cruise last month - though the maiden voyage was halted after a suspected coronavirus case. Sailings have since resumed.

Saudi Arabia reported about 330,000 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic. Daily new cases have declined by 90 percent since peaking in June. The death rate, while still relatively low, has crept up, reaching 1.4 percent on Saturday, compared with 0.5 percent in May.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×