Saudi Arabia's National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020  has approved 13 initiatives submitted by the Saudi Commission for Tourism & National Heritage (SCTH) with a budget of over SR26 billion ($6.93 billion), the commission has said.

This amount will be allocated to tourism and national heritage projects and initiatives implemented through SCTH and its partners in the public and private sectors.

While 18 million people visited the kingdom in 2016, most of them came for pilgrimage. SCTH plans to promote the kingdom's travel and tourism sector to foreign and domestic tourists. The kingdom has a large number of interesting archaeological sites, pristine beaches, monuments, and a range of other holiday destinations.

Tourism in Saudi Arabia is expected to generate around 1.2 million jobs for Saudis in the period until 2030. The tourism sector has been earmarked by the government as a key driver for growth in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic diversification strategy.

Meanwhile, SCTH is currently working on the implementation of its Tourism Marketing Council initiative, which includes establishment of a regulatory entity in partnership with the private sector to manage and develop a range of products, activities and marketing services to support the tourism industry and its events, it said.

Director of the Tourism Marketing Council Initiative, Fu’ad Al Shabrami, said: “The Tourism Marketing Council will finance its operations by approving a tourist fee for each night that is levied directly by hotels for the interest of the council to use it in the product development and advancing integrated tourism experience. This will contribute creatively to reducing the expenses of SCTH for marketing activities."

SCTH has also announced the establishment of the Joint Tourism Marketing Program, which has achieved development and marketing objectives through the principle of partnership and integration between SCTH and its partners that are engaged in the kingdom's tourism industry.

The National Transformation Program 2020 is one of the first steps towards embodying "Vision 2030" of the kingdom as an approach and roadmap for the kingdom's economic and development programme. It also draws the general policies, guidelines, targets and special requirements to become an example at various levels.

The new initiatives of SCTH fall under the first phase of the National Transportation Program 2020, which is currently being implemented in partnership between the Economic and Development Affairs Council and 18 public administrations.  It includes 755 initiatives in various social, economic and development areas that are expected to contribute to the Kingdom's access to the digital age, as well as to promote public-private partnerships, jobs creation and increasing national income.

SCTH has also recently unveiled plans to develop a high-quality brand of Saudi handicrafts through the establishment of “Saudi Handicraft Company”.  

This was approved by the Council of Ministers under the initiatives of the NTP, in an effort to develop and market Saudi handicraft products on the national and international levels.

Meanwhile, SCTH spokesman Mohammad Al-Nashmi was quoted as saying the commission has launched six major initiatives to stimulate the travel and tourism industry.

Al-Nashmi pointed out that $2.64 billion has been allocated for these projects in the 2017 budget.

The projects include: The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Programme for taking care of national culture and heritage; The Long Live Saudi Arabia Programme; the development of Okaz city in Taif; the Kingdom as a Muslim destination initiative; the development of integrated tourism destinations; and the Kafalah programme to finance commercial establishments for tourism projects.  -TradeArabia News Service