Starting next July, Saudi Arabia announces its adoption as an official tourist destination for Chinese tourists

2024-06-24 2024-06-24T11:37:33Z

Weather of Arabia - The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced its adoption as an official tourist destination for tourists from the People’s Republic of China, starting from July 1, 2024 , after a series of meetings, memorandums of understanding and fruitful cooperation between the Saudi and Chinese tourism sectors.

The Minister of Tourism and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Tourism Authority, Ahmed bin Aqeel Al-Khatib, confirmed that the Kingdom’s adoption as an official tourist destination for China represents an important step that culminates the joint efforts between the tourism sectors in the two countries. The Kingdom aims to attract more than 5 million Chinese tourists by 2030, making China the third largest. A source for tourists coming to Saudi Arabia pointed out that the Kingdom is fully prepared to receive Chinese tourists and provide an exceptional and inspiring tourism experience.

China declares the Kingdom an official tourist destination for Chinese tourists, starting July 1.

- Hashtag Saudi Arabia (@HashKSA) June 23, 2024

Saudi Arabia is an official tourist destination for Chinese tourists

The Kingdom's ambassador to China, Abdul Rahman bin Ahmed Al-Harbi, described this accreditation as a positive step to strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, noting the depth of bilateral relations in various fields.

The CEO and member of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Tourism Authority, Fahd Hamid Al-Din, explained that the Kingdom’s adoption as an official tourist destination for the Chinese reflects the continued successes of the Saudi Tourism Authority, with the support of government agencies and its participation in international exhibitions and conferences. Many steps have been taken to ensure a smooth, enjoyable and safe tourist experience for Chinese tourists, such as facilitating visa procedures, reducing costs, and increasing flight capacity by more than 130%. The Chinese language has also been included in airports, destinations and tourist sites, and preferred payment systems for Chinese tourists such as “UnionPay” have been made available. In addition to concluding memorandums of understanding and strategic agreements with companies such as “Trip.com”, “Huawei”, and “TenCent”.

These statements came during the Kingdom's participation in the ITB exhibition in Shanghai, where the Saudi tourism system highlighted many decisions and steps to improve the experience of Chinese tourists, starting from the planning stage until returning to their homeland. Air seat capacity has doubled during 2024, with Saudi Airlines announcing the launch of 9 direct weekly flights from Riyadh and Jeddah to major cities in China.

In this context, three Chinese airlines: China Air, China Eastern, and China Southern announced direct flights to the cities of the Kingdom, which contributed to increasing the capacity of flights by more than 130%.