Riyadh season … A landmark in World Tourism

*By Mohammed Hassan Mohammed Al-Naimi

In an impressive ceremony that carried global touches and fingerprints, attracting followers locally, regionally and globally, advisor Turki al-Sheikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, opened the Riyadh season 2023, reflecting its status, which has become a landmark for tourism and entertainment events at the level of the Middle East and the world, in light of the successes and results of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 programs and initiatives, and the great support of His Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the entertainment sector in the kingdom.

With the preoccupation of the Saudi leadership and the Saudi citizens with building the nation, its development and Renaissance, the Saudi entertainment sector has become one of the new sectors with rapid growth, led by the General Entertainment Authority and its Creative Youth Spirit aimed at renewal year after year under the leadership of consultant Turki al-Sheikh, who put the entertainment industry in the kingdom on the global map of that industry.

The Riyadh season is one of the tourist seasons that contributes to the domestic product of the national economy, so that the revenues of one of the previous seasons reached 6 billion riyals, according to the statement of His Excellency the advisor of the authority, and the Riyadh season 2023 is considered the largest winter entertainment events in the world, in its fourth edition, and offers everything new and innovative in the world of entertainment, amusement, sports, art, culture, and many others, and this year the big gathering includes 12 areas where exceptional experiences are provided to millions of tourists from inside and outside the Kingdom, and the kingdom aims from the Riyadh season to turn it into a global tourist entertainment destination, in accordance with the goals of the quality of Life program one of the programs of the Saudi Vision 2030, and the season has started Riyadh for the first time under the slogan (Imagine) in 2019 and attracted more than 10 million visitors, and its second season (imagine more) launched on October 20, 2021 after it stopped in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the third season launched on October 21, 2022 and carried the slogan “above imagination”, and the opening ceremony of the Riyadh season 2022 entered the Guinness Book of records as the most in the world, the world’s largest artificial lagoon at Boulevard world, the world’s largest metal figure of the grindizer character, and the world’s largest light sphere (LED).

Turki al-Sheikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, announced that the number of visitors to the events of the Riyadh season 2023 reached one million visitors within a week of its launch. The events of the Riyadh season were able to attract visitors from all over the world for their unique and distinctive experiences, which began with the opening ceremony and the global fight “the fiercest man on Earth“, in which Tyson Fury was crowned with the belt of the Riyadh season at the expense of Francis Anjana.

In addition to recreational tourism, the Riyadh season offers huge economic opportunities, which are to empower local companies and support them through investment opportunities in the season, attracting foreign investments that enhance the strength of the entertainment sector in the kingdom, as well as providing jobs in various fields estimated this year by two hundred thousand direct and indirect jobs for Saudis.

The Kingdom achieved second place globally in the growth rate of the number of tourist arrivals, with about 7.8 million tourists from countries during the first seven months of 2023. The Kingdom recorded a growth rate of 58% compared to the same period in 2019, according to the World Tourism Report “barometer” issued by the World Tourism Organization last September.

The kingdom has advanced in the two indicators of the World Tourism Organization for the number of international tourists and international tourism revenues for the year 2022; the kingdom has achieved a Distinguished Achievement in the tourism sector; it has made a big jump in the ranking of the most receiving countries for international tourists, to advance 12 positions, and reach the 13th place in 2022 compared to the 25th place in 2019, as the number of international tourists coming to the Kingdom reached 16.6 million tourists for all purposes in 2022, according to the report issued by the World Tourism Organization.

The kingdom also advanced in the international tourism revenue index by 16 positions to reach the 11th position in 2022 compared to the 27th position in 2019 globally, according to the World Tourism Organization’s Global Tourism Barometer Report for the month of May 2023.

It is noteworthy that earlier, the Kingdom achieved a new achievement within the Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI), issued by the World Economic Forum (WEF), where it jumped globally to the 33rd position, ahead of 10 positions at once compared to 2019.

According to the index, the improvement included all five main axes in addition to 12 sub-axes; thus the kingdom became the second-highest country in the Middle East and North Africa within the index and also ranked among the top ten countries in three of the axes, as it ranked first in terms of demand pressure, the extent of the economic impact of the sector and its quality on the economy, and ranked ninth globally in the priority level of travel and tourism.this axis measures the extent to which the travel and tourism sector is given priority at the local level by the public and private sector, as well as ranked tenth in the business environment, an indicator that measures the extent of support for national policies to do business.

These results come as a follow-up to the kingdom’s outstanding achievements in the tourism sector and its leadership of the global scene in this vital sector, the most recent of which was the kingdom’s hosting of the World Tourism Day events held in the capital Riyadh during the period between September 27 and 28 last .

These achievements achieved by the Kingdom came as a result of the expanded movement of the Saudi government to promote the tourism sector by facilitating the procedures of tourists coming to the country to explore the current development tourism projects in the country. The achievement comes after Riyadh’s success in hosting the World Tourism Day events under the slogan “tourism and green investment”, in the presence of more than 500 government officials, sector leaders and experts from 120 countries.

The tourism sector in Saudi Arabia works side by side with the other targets of the kingdom’s Vision 2030, as this sector contributed to the growth of GDP, and the contribution of the tourism sector to the GDP in Saudi Arabia reached 4% by the end of last year 2022, compared to about 3% in 2019. The kingdom aims to raise the participation of the tourism sector in the GDP to 10% by 2030.

The kingdom also aims to raise the contribution of the sector to pump from 70 to 80 billion dollars to the economy by 2030, according to a previous statement by Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khatib, and the Kingdom achieved a significant surplus in the balance of payments for travel in the first quarter of this year, where the surplus reached 22.8 billion riyals compared to a deficit of 1.6 billion riyals in the first quarter of the previous year, according to the Bulletin of the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia, this surplus was achieved in the first quarter of this year, as a result of the significant growth of tourism revenues by about 225% compared to the first quarter of 2022, and to reach about 37 billion riyals. Domestic tourism in Saudi Arabia reached 65 million tourists in the year 2022.

The kingdom is investing heavily in the tourism sector to support the increase in GDP in the coming years. Among the most prominent investments are the tourism and entertainment projects represented by the Amala project, the Red Sea project, the future city project “Neom”, and the Qiddiya tourist city project, in addition to Entertainment seasons such as the Riyadh season, the Jeddah season, and many events. Saudi Arabia is also working on the establishment of entertainment cities and the development of islands and tourist destinations commensurate with foreign tourists. it is undertaking many initiatives to develop old tourist islands such as the Fursan Islands and the development of coastal beaches.

The secretary-general of the World Tourism Organization, Zarab Polulikashvili, during his speech at the World Tourism Day 2023 conference held in Riyadh, stressed that Saudi tourism is an inspiring example for other countries and that its projects are the future.