Visits to Jeddah are on the rise, and this is expected to continue amid efforts to promote domestic tourism and position the wider industry as a significant contributor to economic development. According to the Tourism Information and Research Centre (MAS), the statistical arm of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, domestic...
Due to the importance of Makkah and Medina in the Muslim world, and the millions of pilgrims they attract, the two holy cities form a major component of Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy. The pilgrimages of Hajj and Umrah are performed each year, with worshippers’ fees, food, transport and accommodation totalling some $12bn in revenues.
Within the global Islamic financial services (IFS) industry, Saudi Arabia occupies a prominent position. The professional services firm EY identifies the country as one of the nine core markets that is driving the growth of Islamic banking, along with Bahrain, Qatar, Indonesia, Malaysia, the UAE, Turkey, Kuwait and Pakistan. Together, these...
With Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 placing a strong emphasis on innovation and technology, the Kingdom’s tech start-up sector is beginning to come of age. The past decade has seen the ecosystem evolve quickly, and the recent launch of a range of new funding programmes should see it gain momentum in the coming years.
Saudi Arabia’s introduction of short-selling to its stock exchange was a regionally historic moment. Despite the elevation of Qatar and the UAE to MSCI Emerging Market status in 2013, none of the exchanges in the Gulf had introduced the concept before the beginning of 2017. The issue has been on the developmental agenda of exchange authorities...
These have been profitable times for the Saudi insurance sector, although bumpy ground in the economy overall has made the growth of premiums more challenging. The sector is undergoing a significant overhaul as a stronger regulatory framework is progressively implemented and enforced, and moves to consolidate the market are in progress....
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