Saudi efforts continue to develop the tourism sector as a new economic tributary, and one of the most important pillars of the "Kingdom 2030" vision to contribute to the diversification of the economy of the largest oil-exporting country in the world, and the largest economy in the Middle East.
The Kingdom is making efforts to upgrade this emerging sector, as it aims to raise its contribution to the gross domestic product to 10%, in addition to achieving 100 million visits by 2030, making the Kingdom among the 5 countries that receive the most tourists in the world.
As part of the Kingdom's efforts to develop the tourism sector and attract investments, the Saudi Council of Ministers approved last August a new tourism system, the first of its kind in the Kingdom, aimed at upgrading this sector, as this system falls within the system of improvements and development of the regulatory and legislative environment for the tourism sector, which contributes to In developing national tourism and attracting investments to this sector.
Saudi Arabia has also developed a large administrative system for tourism in the past few years, including the establishment of the Ministry of Tourism, the Saudi Tourism Authority, the Tourism Development Fund, the Tourism Development Council and tourism development councils in the regions, with the aim of upgrading and revitalizing the tourism sector.
Despite these efforts, which resulted in rapid growth in the Saudi tourism sector, there are still some challenges facing the performance of this sector and affecting its performance.
Such as smart technologies, poor infrastructure, availability of transportation and hospitality, in addition to high prices.
Challenge destinations
In order to monitor the challenges and obstacles facing tourism in the Kingdom, the Saudi Ministry of Tourism launched last December the innovative program "Tourist Destinations Challenge" in 3 cities to identify the most important challenges facing tourist destinations in the three cities (Riyadh, Taif and Al-Ahsa).
The program was specially designed to provide pioneering innovative solutions that address the most prominent challenges facing the targeted tourist destinations by applying the concept of open innovation and attracting innovative entrepreneurs to the tourism sector in the Kingdom to promote tourist destinations with innovative services that contribute to transforming these destinations into leading and attractive tourist destinations.
According to the "Tourist Destinations Challenge" guide issued by the Saudi Ministry of Tourism, the three Saudi destinations face major tourism challenges.
Riyadh:
Smart technologies.
Food and drinks.
Individual transportation: through parking management, transportation services and car rental.
Innovating sports and entertainment technologies: through ticketing, event management and crowd management.
Taif:
Local wealth: diversity of vegetation cover, animal population and agricultural crops.
Rural experiences: especially the distinctive experiences and special tourist attractions.
Temporary and sustainable hospitality solutions.
Hasa:
Unique villages: such as housing, in relation to the cultural experience, and support services to enhance the tourist experience.
Popular dishes: such as product design, hospitality services, and art in popular dishes.
Local products: in terms of handicrafts, souvenirs, and technical products that rely on digital assets.
The Saudi government is developing plans to qualify Saudi cadres in the travel and hospitality sector (Getty Images)
new industry
Saudi economic expert Suleiman Al-Assaf says that tourism in Saudi Arabia is a modern industry, as the Kingdom's government is pumping billions of riyals in order to promote and upgrade the tourism sector in light of the geographical, economic, tourism and entertainment advantages that the Kingdom enjoys.
Al-Assaf explains - in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that the most prominent challenges facing tourism in the Kingdom - in addition to being a new industry - is the lack of a sufficient number of specialists who are able to manage companies operating in this emerging sector, as well as the lack of passion or passion of many Saudi businessmen. Conviction to work and the direction of such an industry.
The Saudi economist also saw that strong competition from neighboring countries represents another challenge for Saudi tourism, as these countries introduced the tourism industry decades ago, and thus gained more experience that gave it a great advantage.
In addition, Al-Assaf believes that there are other obstacles that stand in the way of the Saudi tourism sector, represented in some logistical challenges such as hotel equipment, the availability of housing and restaurants, transportation, tourist guidance, and poor infrastructure.
However, the economist believes that despite the existence of these challenges, the bodies concerned with the tourism sector in the Kingdom are working very effectively in order to overcome and overcome these challenges and obstacles, expecting that all these obstacles will be eliminated within a few years, and achieving the Kingdom’s goals of reaching 100 million tourists annually by 2030.
For his part, Rami Theeb, sales manager at a private travel agency in Saudi Arabia, says that the Kingdom has accelerated the implementation of many tourism projects over the past few years with the aim of supporting the tourism sector and enhancing its performance at various stages within the economic diversification plan that the Kingdom is implementing. There are some existing problems, most notably related to the availability and preparation of human cadres.
The Kingdom aims to raise the contribution of the tourism sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) to 10% (Getty Images)
Other challenges
Theeb adds - in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that tourism in the Kingdom faces a series of challenges, the most important of which is the lack of manpower and human cadres, especially in the air transport and hospitality sectors, which are among the basic sectors on which the tourism industry is based in any country.
Theeb believes that mastering foreign languages represents another dilemma besides the problem of human cadres, as many of those who work in tourism-related establishments in Saudi Arabia only speak Arabic, which leads to a loss of communication with tourists, especially those coming from Europe and the United States, and thus this is reflected in The level of services provided to visitors and their impressions.
However, Rami Theeb added, saying that the Kingdom currently has a new generation of young people who master many foreign languages in light of the external educational scholarship programs implemented by the Saudi government, explaining that despite this, there is a need to prepare more cadres who master different languages to facilitate dealing with tourists. arrivals to the Kingdom.
He also points out that the poor infrastructure and lack of rooms and hotels commensurate with the influx of hundreds of thousands of tourists into the country annually poses another challenge to achieving the goal of reaching 100 million tourists annually, which the Kingdom seeks in the coming years.
And whether there are solutions to overcome these challenges, Rami Theeb asserts that the responsible authorities in the Kingdom are working on developing plans to overcome these challenges, referring in this regard to government plans aimed at qualifying Saudi cadres in the travel and hospitality sector, and providing them with the necessary expertise to The aspect of laws and legislation related to facilitating investment in tourism and lifting restrictions on tourist visas.