Historical decision: Saudi Arabia, granting 1st visas for tourists

World News Nilgun Salim
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Saudi Arabia plans on attracting more tourists and this new strategy consists of granting first visas for tourists in 2018, announced Prince Sultan bin Salman.

The kingdom has millions of Muslim visitors every year, who travel to Mecca as pilgrims, but according to CNN, the Middle Eastern territory wants to attract and welcome tourists from other religions too.

“We want to attract people interested in seeing the greatness of this country and all the experiences Saudi Arabia has to offer”, added Prince Sultan bin Salman, who is also the head of the tourism committee.

Visas for tourists were so far granted to those who went to Saudi Arabia for work or to visit religious sites.

The Kingdom intends to reduce its dependence on oil revenues and increase the tourism receipts.

Saudi Arabia hopes to attract 30 million visitors annually by 2030, way more than those 18 million who traveled in the region in 2016.

Nearly 47 billion dollars will be invested by 2020 in the tourism department.

Meanwhile, in order to completely achieve their goal, Saudi Arabia plans on building some resorts that will stretch over an area of about 160 kilometers along the Red Sea and six theme parks by 2022.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman also revealed plans worth 500 billion dollars of building a metropolis that will extend across the borders with Egypt and Jordan.

“Saudi Arabia has a huge tourist potential due to its favorable temperatures, historical and cultural heritage, beautiful landscapes and rich marine life. But it is surrounded by countries with strong political instability, where the main fears are related to security”, said Nikola Kosutic, research manager at Euromonitor.