TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Saudi Arabia welcomes 24,000 tourists in 10 days
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
In this file photo taken on March 31, 2018 a journalist takes a photo of a tomb at Madain Saleh, a UNESCO World Heritage site, near Saudi Arabia's northwestern town of al-Ula. (AFP/Fayez Nureldine)
S
audi Arabia welcomed 24,000 tourists in the 10 days after it issued tourist visas for the first time, state television reported on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia announced on September 27 it would start offering tourist visas, opening up the kingdom to holidaymakers as part of a push to diversify its economy away from oil.
"In 10 days, some 24,000 foreigners entered Saudi Arabia on a tourist visa," the television reported, citing the Saudi foreign ministry.
Read also: Saudi Arabia allows unmarried foreign couples to rent hotel rooms
Until September 27, the ultra-conservative state only issued visas to Muslim pilgrims, foreign workers and recently to spectators at sporting or cultural events.
To encourage arrivals, authorities announced on Sunday they would allow unmarried foreign couples to rent hotel rooms together.
Kickstarting tourism is one of the centerpieces of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS)'s Vision 2030 reform program to prepare the Arab world's largest economy for a post-oil era.
Citizens from 49 countries are now eligible for online e-visas or visas on arrival, including the United States, Australia, several European nations, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, China and Kazakhstan.
