Saudi Arabia participated yesterday in the G20 Tourism Ministers' Meeting held in Japan in the presence of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), Ahmad bin Aqil Al-Khatib.
During the meeting, the Chairman of SCTHdelivered a speech in which he spoke about the Kingdom's Vision on the futureof the Saudi tourism sector, reviewing the Kingdom's strategy to develop theemerging tourism sector in line with the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030,which seeks to build a prosperous society and a diversified economy. Hestressed that the Kingdom is committed to enhancing the contribution of tourismto the United Nations sustainable development goals, pointing out that the planto develop the tourism sector in the Kingdom will be one of the main prioritiesof the discussions when Saudi Arabia presides over the G20 summit in 2020.
Al-Khatib expressed his thanks andappreciation to the Japanese government for providing an opportunity to reviewthe Kingdom's tourism priorities.
He also stated that the Kingdom of SaudiArabia, as one of the emerging tourist destinations, is opening its doors tothe world and it recognizes the value of tourism in the Kingdom as a catalystfor economic growth and a bridge of cultural communication that promotesawareness, harmony and respect.
He stressed that tourism must besustainable to benefit future generations, noting that the Kingdom's strategyis to increase the contribution of the tourism sector in the GDP from 3% to10%, in addition to increasing the number of visitors to the Kingdom from 18million visitors to 100 million by 2030. These steps will contribute to thecreation of 1.6 million jobs, representing 10% of the total workforce,targeting mostly youth, stressing his commitment to working with partnersthroughout the tourism system to achieve these goals and protect economic,environmental and social welfare of local communities.
