Ministry of Tourism

The Ministry of Tourism is the entity responsible for regulating and promoting the tourism sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Its tasks include enhancing the sector's growth in a manner that aligns with the Kingdom's status and values.

Historically, the regulation of tourism in the Kingdom began with the establishment of the Supreme Commission for Tourism in 2000, emphasizing the adoption of tourism as a major productive sector in the country. In 2003, a Royal Decree was issued to merge the Antiquities Agency into the commission, making it responsible for everything related to the antiquities sector alongside tourism. Five years later, in 2008, its name was changed to 'the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities'. It remained under this name for about seven years until the Council of Ministers decided to rename it to 'The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage'.

The Ministry was established in 2020, and the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage currently serves as the core of the Ministry. It is one of three ministries that were recently created in the Kingdom, coinciding with the establishment of the Ministry of Sport and the Ministry of Investment.

The main headquarters of the Ministry is located in the Diplomatic Quarter of the capital, Riyadh. The Ministry of Tourism is headed by a minister who is appointed by a Royal Decree. This minister is the principal official responsible for the ministry and is also a member of the Council of Ministers.

The Ministry of Tourism has worked on managing, developing, and enhancing the tourism sector to transform it into a significant economic resource. This effort involves leveraging the historical depth, promoting the national cultural heritage, and highlighting the diverse natural and tourist attractions within the Kingdom. Additionally, the ministry focuses on creating a unique tourism experience for visitors, which contributes to reinforcing the Kingdom's position as a distinguished and sustainable global tourism destination.

The Ministry of Tourism is working to achieve the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 by contributing to the diversification of the national economy, creating job opportunities for citizens, attracting local and global investments, and increasing revenue sources. These efforts positively reflect on society, the economy, and the nation. The ministry aims to attract one hundred million international and domestic tourists by 2030 through eight megaprojects and the development of three cities, each hosting three destinations.

Due to the geographic diversity of the Kingdom, the Ministry of Tourism has categorized the sites into twenty-four locations with the potential to attract tourists to the Kingdom, and thirty-eight sites recognized either locally or internationally. Additionally, there are five hundred supplementary sites of tourism importance. By 2030, the ministry aims to create one million jobs in the tourism sector and increase the rate of localization through a human capacity development plan. This plan focuses on enhancing the capabilities of the workforce, providing training, and infusing the tourism market with qualified young Saudi talent equipped to engage in the tourism labor market and create memorable tourist experiences.

Building a promising future for the tourism sector is one of the targets of Saudi Vision 2030, contributing to the creation of a vibrant society and a thriving economy. The development and rise of the tourism sector helped solidify the Kingdom’s identity and enhance its status as a tourist destination based on diverse attractions by capitalizing on the historical, Islamic, cultural, natural, and heritage characteristics of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom possesses a national tourism ecosystem that can contribute to achieving the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, such as enhancing Islamic values and national identity, improving governance effectiveness, supporting economic growth and diversity, and increasing job opportunities. The tourism sector promotes the Kingdom as a tourist destination visited by millions of tourists from various demographics supports the gross domestic product (GDP) by approximately 10 percent, provides over a million jobs for youth, boosts government non-oil revenues, supports the local private sector, and attracts foreign direct investments.

The tourism ecosystem includes six entities working together cohesively and comprehensively to implement the national tourism strategy, each with specific tasks and responsibilities. These entities are the Ministry of Tourism, the Saudi Tourism Authority, the Tourism Development Fund, the Tourism Development Council, the Saudi Red Sea Authority, and the National Air Connectivity Program.

In 2019, the Kingdom officially opened its doors to tourists and announced the launch of an electronic tourist visa. The Ministry of Tourism collaborated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to exempt citizens from forty-nine countries from the usual visa procedures in the first phase of exemptions. Citizens of these countries can now obtain the visa electronically or upon arrival in the Kingdom. The Ministry of Tourism is working on subsequent phases to include more countries in the exemptions. According to the national tourism strategy, the ministry aims for the Kingdom to receive one hundred million visits annually by 2030, in line with Saudi Vision 2030, compared to about 41 million visits recorded until 2019.

According to the same strategy, the Ministry of Tourism is working towards making the Kingdom one of the top five tourist-attracting countries in the world by 2030, with tourism revenues expected to reach 10 percent of the total national income, up from 3 percent in 2019. Additionally, the number of jobs in the Saudi tourism sector is projected to increase to 1.6 million, compared to six hundred thousand jobs in 2019.

Following the launch of its new logo, inspired by the lines and colors of the flag and the map of the Kingdom that stretches north, south, east, and west, the Ministry of Tourism has adopted the slogan "Welcome to Saudi Arabia". This reflects the rich and diverse tourism, heritage, and cultural offerings of the Kingdom.

The logo of the Ministry of Tourism is designed to reflect the concept of interconnected journeys and experiences across the Kingdom. It consists of a textual mark and a symbol that must always appear together. This symbol contains a series of elegant lines and curves drawn by a hand-crafted calligraphy brush, inspired by the art of Arabic calligraphy, which together form the map of the Kingdom. It features three colors: green, teal, and purple. These colors carry symbolic meanings that represent the Kingdom and its rich attributes and bright aspirations.

In 2020, the ministry launched the 'Visit Saudi' platform, supervised by the Saudi Tourism Authority. It is the name of a tourism campaign that has been given an official trademark for promoting tourism in the Kingdom.

The Ministry of Tourism collaborates with about forty-two government and private universities, colleges, institutes, and special centers in the field of tourism training and qualification programs. It works on a cooperation program with universities and educational and training entities, which focuses on creating a unified vision and consistent methodology in this field.