Saudi Arabia's Minister of Tourism Ahmed bin Aqeel Al Khateeb has announced a three-year digital tourism strategy, as the next step in the Kingdom’s continued reform of the sector.
The announcement was made at LEAP, Saudi’s largest-ever tech event held in Riyadh.
The Ministry of Tourism is pioneering nine innovative programmes consisting of 31 core initiatives by 2025 – positively impacting residents, visitors, investors and the public and private sectors. These programmes will accelerate the kingdom’s National Tourism Strategy and Vision 2030 targets, including 100 million new visits and tourism’s 10 percent GDP contribution.
Al Khateeb said: "The Digital Tourism Strategy will help us to redesign tourism in the Kingdom and achieve our ambitious Vision 2030 objectives of making Saudi Arabia a world-leading tourist destination. The Kingdom’s execution of this strategy over the next three years will inspire the tourism sector globally."
Application of the strategy aims to provide tourists and stakeholders with a more seamless experience, that enables a thriving tourism sector. The strategy focuses on a number of areas, including seamless travel, ease of doing business, innovation, digital travel, encouraging sustainability, informed decision making, skilled digital workforce and investor attraction.
Al Khateeb added: "We must embrace the opportunities that the digital era presents us. We are welcoming the most innovative, disruptive minds in the world, to create better digital tourism regulations. We want travelers and investors to have certainty that smart regulations are being adopted across the sector.
"Saudi Arabia will continue to pioneer and lead these efforts at a national and global scale, ultimately creating more jobs, more prosperity and bringing more visitors into the Kingdom."