Full transcript
0:00for a session presented by the ministry
0:01of Tourism of Saudi Arabia please
0:03welcome the deputy minister of
0:05destination enablement Mahmoud abdihari
0:09[Music]
0:24good morning
0:27Saudi Arabia has a track record on
0:31delivering on large ambitions
0:34in the 1970s
0:36we decided that we were going to
0:39diversify our sources of income in
0:42hydrocarbons from just pure extraction
0:44to the downstream value-add
0:47and we wanted to become a global player
0:49a serious Global player within 15 years
0:53we had the two largest petrochemical
0:55complexes the world had ever seen today
0:58we are an Undisputed leader in that
1:00space globally
1:03in 2015
1:04the Kingdom embarked on a change program
1:08like no other
1:10it's called vision 2030.
1:13some of you may have seen the interview
1:15with our Crown Prince his Royal Highness
1:17Prince Mohamed bin Salman last week
1:19where he outlined the three key pillars
1:22to that vision
1:25is to create a vibrant Society
1:27a thriving and diversified economy
1:31and that ambitious Nation
1:34in that interview he mentioned tourism
1:36as a key pillar of vision 2030.
1:40why tourism because tourism delivers on
1:44all three pillars
1:47so we asked ourselves a question
1:50why do people travel
1:52people travel to discover
1:55geography to discover culture
1:58food they travel to do business they
2:01travel for religious purposes
2:04we looked at why people historically
2:06travel to the kingdom
2:07and we saw that people primarily
2:09traveled for business and religious
2:11purposes
2:12we then looked at the assets that we had
2:15in our kingdom we have the stunning
2:18deserts the Lush mountains in the south
2:22the pristine coral reefs on the Red Sea
2:25snow in the north incidentally we're
2:27hosting the 2029 Asian Games
2:33in addition to that we have a culture
2:35and Heritage that extends thousands of
2:38years
2:39and probably the most important asset we
2:41have
2:42our people
2:43we have a generous
2:46people of hospitable people who are
2:49always welcoming
2:52all the building blocks to build a
2:54tourism industry are there
2:57so let me show you some of what we have
3:00to offer in this short video
3:02[Music]
3:15[Music]
3:21foreign
3:23[Music]
3:29[Music]
3:48[Music]
3:56[Music]
4:09[Music]
4:55[Music]
5:03thank you
5:04foreign
5:09diversity opportunity authenticity
5:14these are the three building blocks for
5:16the Saudi tourism space
5:19Vision 2030 set us three main goals
5:22the first is to become a top destination
5:25globally by attracting 100 million
5:26visits by 2030
5:29the second is for tourism to become the
5:31second largest contributor to our
5:34national GDP by 2030
5:37and third and probably most importantly
5:39is to create one million additional jobs
5:41in the Kingdom to bring our total to 1.6
5:44million jobs in the sector
5:47our mission is to create a visitable
5:50sustainable investable tourism sector in
5:54the Kingdom
5:56and on the eve of world tourism day
6:00which is being hosted in our Capital
6:02Riyadh where all the Globes policy
6:06makers in the sector have gathered I'm
6:08going to tell you how we plan to achieve
6:11our goals
6:14the first thing we did was we created a
6:16new ecosystem
6:18centered around the ministry we created
6:21the Saudi tourism Authority who acts as
6:23our tourism board they are responsible
6:25for the visitor experience the marketing
6:28and promotion of our destinations
6:30domestically and globally we created the
6:34Saudi tourism Development Fund with the
6:36aim of funding and finding Funding
6:40Solutions for the private sector to
6:42invest in what is a new economic sector
6:44in the Kingdom
6:46focusing a little bit on our ministry
6:48we act as the main orchestrator and
6:51promoter for the sector
6:53we create the right regulation
6:57for visitors and investors alike in
7:00order to promote healthy business
7:02practices sustainable business practices
7:05and the sustainable environmental impact
7:11we commit to training 100
7:14000 Saudis a year in order to make sure
7:16that these Investments have the right
7:19people in order to meet our ambition in
7:22terms of the service and the quality of
7:24hospitality that we want to offer our
7:26visitors
7:28we enable our destinations through two
7:31main things the first is building the
7:33right framework to ensure that the right
7:36product is delivered in the targeted
7:38destinations through the right
7:41investment
7:43second we take lessons learned from
7:45everything that we've been working on
7:47identify the things that we need to fix
7:51and fix it
7:54so how are we doing versus our
7:57targets
7:59so in 2022 we saw 16 and a half million
8:03inbound visitors
8:05those visitors contributed a direct
8:07spend into the economy of 26.2 billion
8:11dollars
8:12domestically we saw 77.8 million
8:15visitors and they spent
8:1828.6 billion dollars
8:22that's 94.4 billion million visitors in
8:262022.
8:28that is a 45 increase on 2019.
8:33spend has gone up 25 versus 2019.
8:38this is all bearing in mind that we are
8:41at 95 percent of our inbound visitors
8:44versus 2019.
8:47comparing that to a global average of
8:49down 34 versus 2019 I think a minus five
8:54percent is okay
8:57so our solid performance and being who
9:01we are and as ambitious as we are 100
9:04million visits is no longer sufficient
9:06as a Target
9:08we are now aiming for 150 million
9:10Visitors by 2030.
9:14if we drill down into those numbers a
9:16little bit
9:16as a purpose of travel leisure is our
9:20strongest growth area
9:22we have grown 119 percent since 2019.
9:28today Leisure accounts for 38 of all
9:30visits as a purpose of travel
9:33and 41 percent have spent
9:36on the jobs front we now have eight
9:39hundred and eighty thousand people
9:41employed in the sector
9:43that is a growth of 15 percent versus
9:452019. incidentally 44 of that Workforce
9:50is female
9:53while I cannot share on stage our
9:56year-to-date performance please come and
9:58see me afterwards if you want some
9:59insight
10:02um
10:03what I can say is that we are we are
10:05well above our targets and we are well
10:07above our 2022 performance
10:10so we must be doing something right
10:14and before I allow you to enjoy your
10:18coffee break
10:19I want to leave you with one thought
10:22I conclude by inviting you to Saudi
10:24Arabia
10:26I heard some people talking earlier this
10:28morning about whether they should come
10:31to Saudi they shouldn't come to Saudi
10:33and it was an interesting little piece
10:35of
10:37info that I was listening to but I urge
10:40you to come and visit come and see it
10:41for yourself
10:43as a visitor you will be welcomed with
10:45open arms and I promise you an
10:47experience like no other
10:49as a business or an investor you will
10:52find that we are open for business
10:55and that we mean business
10:58my team and I are around for the next
11:01couple days please catch us we'll be
11:04more than happy to speak to you
11:06I believe that is our contact details if
11:09you want to Ping us an email and learn
11:10more
11:11feel free to do so
11:13thank you for your time thank you for
11:15listening
11:15[Applause]