“The government has already endorsed this ‘After-Umrah Tourism Program’ as many Muslims who come for pilgrimage from different parts of the Islamic world want to stay on in the Kingdom to visit our historical places and tourist attractions,” the prince said.
He said the SCTA would announce details of this program after developing museums that display artifacts from the Islamic history. “We are now working on this project in association with related departments,” he said in comments published by Asharq Al-Awsat daily.
The SCTA chief emphasized his organization’s strategy to focus on Saudi tourists by encouraging them to visit the Kingdom’s tourist sites, instead of traveling to foreign destinations spending billions of riyals. “We are targeting six million Saudi tourists,” he added.
He said SCTA intends to connect Saudi families — who usually go abroad for tourism — with domestic tourism that ensures their security and safety.
“Right now we are not targeting foreign tourists. Our main goal is to encourage Saudis to make use of domestic tourist facilities because we want to stop the flight of capital with those opting for foreign destinations,” he explained.
Prince Sultan elaborated further: “If we cannot attract Saudi families and singles (to our tourism spots), then we don’t deserve to have foreign tourists.” He denied plans to issue tourist visas to foreigners.
On Wednesday, Prince Sultan said that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah had approved the restoration of two historic mosques in Jeddah. He said Al-Shafi and Al-Mimar mosques would be refurbished after he visited the city’s historical area.
He visited a number of historic buildings in Jeddah and met officials from the city’s municipality at Bait Naseef in Balad, as part of the ongoing events in the National Built Heritage Forum that concluded later Wednesday.
According to a recent SCTA report, Saudi and foreign tourists have spent more than SR13 billion in the Kingdom in 2010. The report pointed out that business tourism accounted for 21 percent of the Kingdom’s tourism revenue.
Saudi Arabia witnesses about 90,000 business activities and events annually, which are hosted by more than 600 institutions including conference and exhibition centers, the report added.