Prince Sultan bin Salman: This is the year of accomplishments to be achieved on the ground in tourism sector
Almasalla Arab Travel Portal News – Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, President of SCTA, recently pointed out that, this year is exceptional, because of a number of important resolutions that were issued by the government for the support and promotion of national tourism and as foundation of an actual start for investment in tourism sector.
President of SCTA made his comments in a press statement following the opening ceremony of the 7th Saudi Travel and Tourism Investment Market (STTIM-2014) the events of which were launched recently by Prince Khalid bin Bandar, Governor of Riyadh region and the patron of the opening ceremony.
President of SCTA, in his statement extended his thanks and gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (May Allah Protect Him), for his persistent support to tourism and the national heritage, and this support is seen in a number of resolutions crowned recently by the approval of the Cabinet of the "King Abdullah Project Cultural Heritage Care", in addition to "the provision of financial and administrative support to SCTA to enable it to carry out its mandate".
in his statement disclosed that, the successive resolutions that have been made by the government over the past few years for the interest of the tourism and the national heritage till now are 28.
"We see a good omen in this year as the year of concrete achievements after issuance of these resolutions. SCTA, in the next period, looks forward to the issuance of more important resolutions and regulations by the government." He said.
The great attention paid by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques comes due to tourism’s importance as a key sector in the creation of job opportunities, as Their Excellences the Minister of Labor and the Governor of SAGIA have stressed in their speeches in the opening ceremony of STTIM-2014.
"The issue is not only securing job opportunities, but also aiming at encouraging citizen to stay as long as possible in his homeland in the company of his family in order to recognize his country and enhance his belonging and relation with his history and recognize the efforts exerted by his forefathers for the foundation and unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Prince Sultan bin Salman said.
President of SCTA, in his speech stressed the importance of prompting tourism and tourism investors through creating proper tourism financial programs for launching the tourism as an integrated economic industry.
"We hope to see more important resolutions in tourism financing in order to prompt investors to promote the level of services and raise the number of tourism projects. Also for being able to overcome the rise in prices of service, this is our first concern and the first concern of citizen too.
"Hotels and accommodation facilities in Saudi market are depending on the seasonality especially during summer, there is no actual financing for tourism or entertainment facilities as in the other sectors. “Imagine if the industrial sector is not financed by the government or not supported by the State, the actually prices of industrial products will go high. Hence we persistently look forward to the proper financing to tourism projects.
"Tourism comes second in the rate of Saudization within the national economy, despite that it has not yet been provided with necessary support from the government as is done with the other sectors. Tourism is not only distinguished with creation of job opportunities, but also it creates jobs especially suited to Saudis, which is considered tourism’s added value.
"Tourism is a powerful sector to create jobs in the world. Tourism growth for us is very important. No doubt we expect more people to move towards tourism sector jobs as good as in other sectors. The promising factor is that tourism today is considered as the second prominent sector regarding the rate of job Saudization. Tourism jobs are allowed at medium, small cities and rural areas. Tourism jobs also are provided in with the handicraft, accommodation facilities, service providers, and event operators.
"Everywhere in the world, the power of tourism lies in its ability to secure jobs for different categories of people, including the educated and illiterates, low and medium income people, for the people who want to start up business or those who want to expand their business. This not my opinion alone, this is what has been said today by Their Excellences, the Minister of Labor and the Governor of SAGAI, who have unlimited access to economic data and statistics and are speaking out as statesmen", concluded President of SCTA.
