Saudi Arabia will create as many as 250,000 jobs during its hosting of Expo 2030 in Riyadh

According to Saudi Arabia's Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Al-Khateeb, the country would generate up to 250,000 employment while holding Expo 2030 in Riyadh. Additionally, he emphasised the significance of the long-term employment that the Kingdom would provide, which will include 1,000 hotel room positions that will arise from the worldwide exhibition's sides.

Speaking at a ministerial roundtable session titled "Accelerated Progress in the Labour Market," the minister made the comments on Wednesday at the first Global Labour Market Conference (GLMC), which got underway at the King Abdulaziz International Convention Centre in Riyadh. According to Al-Khateeb, the National tourist Strategy was introduced in 2019 with the goal of creating one million more employment and raising the GDP (gross domestic product) from this important tourist industry from three percent to ten percent by 2030.

The minister highlighted that the Kingdom is hosting the UNWTO's upcoming General Assembly and is currently serving as its president of the Executive Council. The minister listed three priorities for the UNWTO: maintaining the planet's sustainability; providing adequate employment opportunities for people; increasing travel and tourism-related services by twofold; and emphasising the value of preserving the local environment in any tourist destination.

Al-Khateeb predicted that by 2030, there will be 8.5 billion people on the planet. "Many services, including the labour market, are being digitised. This is particularly true for trade and manufacturing, which were digitised decades ago and had a detrimental effect on the labour market," he stated.

The minister stated that before the pandemic struck, there were 330 million jobs in the travel and tourism industry, which accounts for 10% of the global labour market. The industries most severely impacted, with 60 million jobs lost worldwide, were hotels and airlines.

Ten percent of jobs worldwide are provided by the tourist industry, according to Al-Khateeb, who also emphasised that this industry is one of the key areas for future growth. Additionally, he emphasised how crucial it is to preserve the human aspect in the tourist industry since it is essential to share cultures from the many nations we visit.

Earlier, Ahmad Al-Rajhi, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, gave the conference its opening. The conference, which is a forum to bring together experts, specialists, and representatives of labour market stakeholders to engage in discussions about present and future international market challenges and propose creative solutions to address them, is drawing more than 6,000 delegates from over 40 countries.