Overseas tourists in Saudi Arabia to cross 23 mln by 2023, says report

International tourist arrivals to Saudi Arabia are expected to increase 5.6 percent per year from 17.7 million in 2018 to 23.3 million in 2023, a statement from Arabian Travel Market (ATM) said on Wednesday citing a report by Colliers.

Religious tourism is expected to remain the bedrock of the sector over the next decade, with a goal of attracting 30 million pilgrims to the Kingdom by 2030 -- up 11 million from the 19 million Hajj and Umrah pilgrims that visited the country in 2017 -- said the research report done in partnership with the upcoming Arabian Travel Market (ATM) event to be held at Dubai from April 28 – May 1 2019.

Also see: Spending on tourism in Saudi Arabia hits $32 bln

The upbeat tourism forecast is also being driven, by domestic tourism with the number of local tourist trips inside Saudi Arabia exceeding 47 million in 2018. The latest research from Colliers forecasts this figure to increase 8 percent per year to 70.5 million by 2023.

Saudi Arabia’s travel and tourism sector is expected to contribute $70.9 billion (SAR 263.1 billion) in total to the country’s GDP in 2019, the ATM statement said adding data from the World Travel and Tourism Council.

“At ATM, we are witnessing this growth first hand with the total number of delegates arriving from Saudi Arabia increasing 42 percent between 2017 and 2018, while 33 percent of delegates, exhibitors and attendees were interested in doing business with the Kingdom,” Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME, ATM said.

“While, this new supply will place additional competitive pressure on hotels performance across the country, the projected growth in visitor numbers in both the domestic and international markets is expected to boost occupancy levels throughout 2019,” added Curtis.