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.
Saudi state oil company Aramco has ordered the evacuation of its headquarters in Dhahran, six people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday, as fighting between the world's largest crude exporter and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis intensifies.
Two people were killed and eight injured in an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Saudi Arabia's eastern oil hub of Dammam on Wednesday evening, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said on Thursday.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt's military effort to defend Saudi Arabia would not include an attack on Yemen and would be limited to defending the kingdom's territory and borders, according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency spokesperson on Wednesday.
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