I EXHIBITORS ISaudi
I EXHIBITORS ISaudi Tourism: public and privatesectors working hand in handExclusive interview: Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO and board member ofthe Saudi Tourism AuthoritySaudi Arabia recently hosted the G20 meeting of tourismministers. We asked Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO and boardmember of the Saudi Tourism Authority, how important thisevent was in terms of helping the Kingdom stand out as aleading light in the tourism world.Under the Saudi Presidency thisyear, the Saudi Ministry of Tourismhas taken a lead on addressing theimpact of the COVID-19 pandemicon the global travel and tourismsector.WE ARE LOOKINGTO ATTRACTTRAVELLERSFROM CHINA,SOUTH KOREA,MALAYSIA ANDJAPAN WHOHAVE A LOT TODISCOVER FROMTRAVELLING TOTHE HOME OFARABIAThe Ministry’s leadership haspioneered a uniquely collaborativeapproach between the public andthe private sectors to build a safeenvironment for travellers andrebuild traveller confidence. Froma Saudi Tourism Authorityperspective, this responsivenessprovided us with a frameworkto develop and market withthe Kingdom's largest everdomestic tourism campaign -"Saudi Summer" - with completeconfidence that visitors would beable to travel safely. Ultimately, theseefforts have contributed to shoringup and strengthening the localtourism industry through increaseddomestic spend.How are the private and publicsectors working together in termsof moving tourism forward?Close collaboration with the privatesector is central to our approachto developing the tourism marketin Saudi Arabia. Part of the SaudiTourism Authority's mandate isto support the development of atourism infrastructure, whileempowering and enabling theprivate sector. As part of thismandate we are building the firstnational level visitor experiencemanagement unit in the industry,which will work closely with ourprivate sector partners to accelerateinnovation and drive visitorexperience improvements acrossthe entire tourism journey.How has the COVID-19 crisis alteredyour goals for the next ten years?Tourism in Saudi Arabia hasmade significant progress in thepast year since the launch of ourfirst international tourist visa inSeptember 2019. We are committedto and remain on track to achieveour Vision 2030 goals of 100million visits by 2030 across bothinternational and domestic.Saudi Arabia is leveraging itsstrengths and ambitiously pursuingits targets to become a globaltourism destination, despite thechallenges presented by COVID-19.What are the next steps in yourtourism promotion plans?We have ambitious plans to furtherdrive the promotion of Saudi asa leading international tourismdestination and the Asian market isa key priority for us. We are lookingto attract travellers from China,South Korea, Malaysia and Japanwho have a lot to discover fromtravelling to the home of Arabiaand we are confident that Saudi'snatural beauty, authentic cultureand rich adventure experienceswill inspire Asian tourists looking tojourney off the beaten track. To helpachieve these goals, we are buildingrepresentative teams in key marketsto help drive our initiatives forward.We will also soon be launching ourWinter Season activities, whichwill help bring new experiencesand destinations to market. We arelooking forward to welcoming ourdomestic, regional and internationalvisitors to explore and discover ourwinter destinationsSAUDI SUMMER BOOSTSTOURISM IN 2020The Saudi Tourism Authority has been putting a great deal of effortinto re-kindling domestic tourism. Their "Saudi Summer" campaignencouraged Saudi nationals and residents to explore 12 uniquedestinations along the Red Sea coast. The campaign was hugelysuccessful and was warmly received by travellers and domestictourism companies alike. The campaign ran from June to Septemberand generated a 33% increase in visitor spend recorded by hotels,restaurants and cultural activities compared to the same period in2019. At peak period, some destinations saw hotel occupancy ratesreach almost 100%.10 ITB ASIA NEWS • FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER 2020www.itb-asia-news.com
