Arabian Business, Monday, Jun 22, 2020 | Zul Qaadah 01, 1441
Saudi Arabia starts $4bn Tourism Development Fund
Saudi Arabia:
Saudi Arabia has started a fund with an initial capital of $4 billion to
develop its tourism industry as the oil-rich kingdom seeks to diversify its
economy and attract more foreign travellers.
The Tourism Development Fund will launch a range of equity and debt investment
vehicles and has $45bn in memorandum of understandings signed with private
banks, according to a statement. “Funding will be deployed to support mixed-use
destinations, to address gaps in the tourism value chain, and to enable
technologically-enhanced tourism,” it said.
Saudi Arabia, which last year dropped its strict dress code for foreign women,
is seeking to attract holidaymakers and the spending that could help develop the
kingdom’s economy away from its reliance on oil.
The country expects the tourism industry to contribute more than 10 percent of
its annual GDP and create more than one million jobs by 2030.
The launch is part of the first phase of the National Tourism Strategy, which
focuses on developing and enhancing 38 sites across seven destinations by 2022.
Further discussions are underway with investment banks to create additional
investment funds in the future.
Fund board members are: Princess Haifa Mohammed Al Saud, vice minister of
strategy and investment at the Saudi Ministry of Tourism; Ihsan Bafakih,
governor of the Real Estate General Authority; Stephen Groff, governor of the
National Development Fund; Mohammed Omran Al Omran, member of Saudi British Bank
board; and Mohammed Al-Hokal, member National Commercial Bank board.