Saudi Arabia is on track to achieve its Vision 2030, which aims to raise tourism and position the Kingdom as one of the top tourist destinations in the world.
With this good news, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched an e-visa service for cruise passengers. This program was developed in collaboration between the government of Foreign Affairs and the Public Investment Fund, and according to the ministry, visa applications can be submitted through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ portal.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that a visa application is filled out after purchasing a cruise ticket in collaboration with the Red Sea Company, and that the application data is then registered in the visa platform on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, where the visa is then processed and approved by the digital Saudi Embassy.
Consequently, Saudi Arabia plans to invest up to $200 billion and welcome 100 million visitors by 2030. In addition, the tourism sector’s contribution to GDP is to be increased to 10% by 2030, according to the Saudi’s Vision 2030. This plan will also include job creation and the construction of additional tourism facilities, including hotels.
Also, It is worth mentioning that the Saudi Tourism Authority offered cruise vacations as part of the Saudi Summer 2021 program back in August 2021, as part of its attempts to enhance tourism in The Kingdom. The cruises allowed tourists of all types to have fun and enjoy nature in the heart of the Red Sea. Furthermore, the Saudi Summer 2021 initiative aimed to promote tourism and meet Vision 2030 goals. Thus, several efforts were launched throughout last year to help the country develop a sense of identity and market its outstanding tourism attractions in order to attract visitors from all over the world.