The Saudi Commission of Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) has announced plans to fund 33 new tourism projects across the kingdom, estimated to cost more than SR1.1 billion ($293.2 million), said a report.

A joint committee formed by the SCTH and the Ministry of Finance was also studying funding for six other projects worth an additional SR71 million ($18.9 million), said a report in Arab News.

The funds will go toward developing a range of plans across the hospitality sector, including hotels, conference centres, infrastructure and tourist resorts.

The hope is that the initiative will lead to an upswing in job creation as well as highlight the many attractions on offer in less-heralded parts of the country, said Abdul Majeed bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Nasser, general manager of tourism investment at the SCTH.

Earlier this month, SCTH undertook registration of 1,127 artefacts and relics that it successfully managed to restore from America, in coordination with the Saudi Foreign Ministry. Some of the items recovered date back to prehistoric times, the report said.

The director-general of archiving and protecting antiquities at SCTH, Naif Al-Qannour, said the commission had stepped up its efforts to recover national treasures from inside and outside the kingdom, it said.