Tourism

Tourism is estimated to have directly contributed $12.7bn to the Saudi economy in 2013, equivalent to 1.7% of GDP, and this was forecast to rise by 5.2% to $13.3bn in 2014. Although religious tourism still dominates the industry, government efforts are under way to expand the sector’s offering, with opportunities available in various segments, including heritage and business tourism. Domestic tourism has surged in recent years with spending seeing a compound annual growth rate of 15% between 2010 and 2014. Indeed, current ambitions for non-religious tourism are directed towards serving the domestic market – both Saudi and expatriate – for whom spending almost doubled between 2010 and 2014, from $15.7bn to $27.4bn.