The Saudi Arabian government is seeking to ratchet up its tourism industry by offering to subsidize airlines that fly unprofitable routes linking the Persian Gulf kingdom to major global cities.
What Happened: According to a Bloomberg report, Saudi Arabia is very late to the world tourism stage — it only began issuing tourist visas in 2019 and the tourism ministry is aiming to attract 12 million foreign visitors this year, which would contribute to roughly 4% of the Saudi economic output. However, Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb wants to raise that share to 10% by 2030.
