Saudi Arabia witnessed a huge tourism increase in the first six months of the year, with record numbers of international visitors and a total spend of SR150bn ($40bn), according to official statistics.
The Ministry of Tourism has announced the preliminary data for the first half of 2023, which demonstrates the continuous achievements following 2022’s remarkable growth within the tourism sector. Saudi tourism statistics achieved positive results during this year, with total number of tourists reaching 53.6 million, including 39 million domestic tourists and 14.6 million inbound tourists.
The total tourism spending reached SR150bn, of which SR63.1bn came from domestic tourism and SR86.9bn from inbound tourism, indicating a new historical record for Saudi tourism.
Inbound tourism achieved historical record numbers in the first half of 2023, recording an increase of 142 per cent in number of tourists and 132 per cent in total tourism spending vs. the first half of 2022.
With the continuous development of the tourism sector, there has been an increase in the number of tourists for all purposes with leisure tourists showing the highest growth, 347 per cent, vs. the first half of 2022.
