Explainer: How has Saudi's tourism sector coped with the Covid-19 crisis?

The kingdom is investing more in tourism infrastructure than any country in the world today

- Fahd Hamidaddin

How has Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector handled the pandemic?

Partnerships have been at the heart of Saudi’s mitigation and recovery programmes across the hospitality ecosystem, including close collaboration between the private and public sectors to create new and innovative ways of working together. At the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA), it has been our role to create a framework for the ecosystem to support local businesses in the private sector in the wake of Covid-19.

Over the past 12 months, our summer and winter domestic campaigns supported the local travel and tourism sector and provided opportunities for growth and development, even during the international lockdown. Throughout the Saudi Summer campaign, which ran between June and September 2020, average hotel

The kingdom is investing in large signature projects like the Red Sea project occupancy was at nearly 50 per cent, with peak occupancy for some destinations at almost 100 per cent. Despite increasing visitation to target destinations by more than 30 per cent year on year, our comprehensive approach to traveller safety meant that we did not see a corresponding spike in Covid-19 cases. STA continues to work with Saudi’s hospitality players, to provide the tools, learning and insights they need to increase their business opportunities.

Has this year been better than 2020 – so far?

While borders have remained closed, our key focus has been on building a solid foundation to welcome guests back into the kingdom.