Saudi Arabia ranked 13th globally in receiving international tourists in 2022, according to the WTO report

According to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) report, Saudi Arabia will rank among the top nations receiving foreign tourists in 2022, moving up 12 spots to number 13. In 2019, it took 25th position.

According to the WTO, 16.6 million foreign visitors visited the Kingdom in 2022 for all types of travel.

According to the World tourist Barometer report for May 2023 published by the WTO, the Kingdom also rose 16 spots in the international tourist income index, ranking 11th in 2022 as opposed to 27th overall in 2019.

During the first quarter of 2023, the Kingdom saw growth in the tourism industry, welcoming 7.8 million tourists from across the world for a variety of reasons.

This reflects the sector's best quarterly performance, increasing by 64% from the same time last year. According to the most recent WTO data, the nation also ranked second among the tourist destinations with the quickest rate of growth during that time.

This accomplishment, according to Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb, is an addition to the Kingdom's previous successes in a number of different industries. It also represents the fruition of the leadership's directives to keep improving the Kingdom's standing on the world tourism stage and increasing its GDP contribution in line with Vision 2030 for the Kingdom.

He noted that some of the factors for these successes were streamlining the application process for travel visas, organising advertising efforts in the target nations, and the variety of tourist locations in the Kingdom.

The minister emphasised that the ministry would continue to work with its partners in the public and commercial sectors to strive for the transformation of the Kingdom into a major destination for international tourism.

The Kingdom achieved a new milestone in the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI), moving up ten positions from 2019 to take 33rd place internationally.