The Saudi Ministry of Tourism said the total number of tourists during the first half of 2023, reached 53.6 million, including 14.6 million inbound travelers and 39 million local tourists, marking a growth in the number of incoming visitors by 142 percent.
Al Ula, famous complex of tombs Mada in Saleh © Mena Today
The Saudi Ministry of Tourism said the total number of tourists during the first half of 2023, reached 53.6 million, including 14.6 million inbound travelers and 39 million local tourists, marking a growth in the number of incoming visitors by 142 percent.
In the preliminary data of tourism statistics for the first half of 2023, the ministry noted that the total tourism spending in the Kingdom reached SAR 150 billion ($40 billion), distributed between SAR 86.9 billion from incoming tourism, and SAR 63.1 billion from domestic tourism.
Local tourism spending increased by 16 percent, while spending by foreign tourists rose by 132 percent.
According to the ministry, tourists visiting the country for entertainment and holidays represented 43 percent of the total, with a growth rate of 18 percent in the first half of 2023, compared to the same period last year.
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are due to meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the fragile US-Iran peace framework, as Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed 47 people and wounded nearly 100, dealing a severe blow to the ceasefire the agreement was supposed to deliver.
Three Saudi-flagged supertankers with six million barrels of crude onboard sailed through the Strait of Hormuz hours after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a deal with Iran over an end to the conflict, ship tracking data showed on Thursday.
The most important issue in imminent nuclear talks between Iran and the United States is how Iran's nuclear programme will be policed, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Wednesday.
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