1.6 Million tourism jobs in 3 years

The Kingdom’s tourism sector will provide 1.6 million jobs by 2015, Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, announced yesterday. Speaking to Minister of Economy and Planning Muhammad Al-Jasser, the SCTA chief emphasized the need to activate the agreement between the two organizations to exchange information and coordinate national planning for the sector. “By the end of 2010, the number of direct and indirect jobs created by the sector rose to 1.2 million,” the prince said. Among them, 128,000 were Saudi. Al-Jasser stressed the important role of tourism in boosting the national economy, adding that it provides a lot of jobs to different groups of people. “I was very happy to know the remarkable achievements of SCTA during the past years in promoting domestic tourism,” the minister said, adding that the ministry would extend all support to the sector. During the meeting, a documentary on the Kingdom’s tourism development strategy was screened. Meanwhile, President of Saudi Red Crescent Authority Prince Faisal bin Abdullah yesterday received a delegation from the SCTA headed by SCTA Deputy Chairman Khalid Tahir. The meeting discussed aspects of cooperation between the two departments, particularly in the area of training and SRCA participation in summer functions sponsored by the SCTA.