Saudi Arabia is looking to attract Chinese travellers and hopes to receive 3.9 million travellers from Beijing by 2030 in a bid to become one of the top holiday destinations globally.
China has been one of the top sources of tourism for Saudi Arabia which is eyeing to become one of the top holiday destinations globally.
Saudi recently organised the first roadshow in China and held events in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, promoting the country as a leisure destination, a report in CGNT said.
The country’s travel agencies, hotels and airlines participated in the event and showed Saudi as the perfect holiday destination for Chinese travellers.
When Saudi Arabia opened itself to tourism in 2019, China topped the number of tourist visas issued. In 2019, the country had welcomed over 100,000 Chinese travellers.
Saudi Arabia received 93.5 million tourists last year.
The report said that the Saudi is introducing a free stopover program and direct flights between China and Saudi. A direct flight between Beijing to Riyadh will be launched this year.
The country has a diverse experience from adventure to culture, heritage and nature. It has over 10,000 archaeological sites and 6 UNESCO World Heritage sites.
The country also simplified the application process for foreign travellers and introduced the e-visa program in 2019, allowing eligible citizens to apply for their visa online three days before the planned travel.
Before the pandemic, Saudi drew about $12 billion of revenue annually from 2.6 million pilgrims embarking on the week-long haj.
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