RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s visual arts sector witnessed significant growth as its commercial registrations rose 103.5 percent year on year in the final quarter of 2023 to stand at 822.
Issued by the Ministry of Commerce, this certificate serves as a legal confirmation of a business’ official status in the Kingdom.
The rise in licenses indicates that the promising sectors in Saudi Arabia’s trade system have witnessed substantial progress, becoming an important tributary to the development and expansion of the business sphere as well as building distinctive and diverse partnerships year after year.
It also underscores Saudi Arabia’s commitment to the implementation of Vision 2030 and economic diversification, signaling an encouraging environment for foreign investment.
According to the ministry’s quarterly business sector bulletin for the fourth quarter of 2023, the commercial approvals associated with boutique hotels activity increased, reaching a total of 1,911. This reflects an annual growth of 74.4 percent, compared to their numbers in the same period in the previous year.
The bulletin also showed that Makkah region alone accounted for 863 licenses, representing 45.2 percent from the total issued for the boutique hotels sector.
Moreover, the bulletin revealed that the resorts sector surged 51 percent during the final quarter of the year, compared to its levels for the same similar period in 2022, to reach 3,377 commercial registrations.
The report further showed that Makkah region constituted 40.4 percent of the general total of commercial approvals in the field with a total number of 1,364.
Furthermore, the number of commercial permits for marine clubs also climbed by 191, bringing the total to 580 licenses in the last three months of 2023. This indicates that the sector jumped by 49.1 percent on an annual basis.
The permits for cloud computing services sector rose 40.5 percent year on year to reach 1,759 in the fourth quarter of 2023.
It was followed by software publishing activity as its commercial registrations reached 4,009 during the same period, reflecting an annual growth rate estimated at 28.8 percent.
Additionally, the bulletin showed that the manufacturing of medical instruments and equipment increased by 28.3 percent in the last three months of the year when compared to the corresponding period a year ago to reach 1,322 permits.
Meanwhile, the land transport of goods sector topped the list in terms of increase in the number of commercial approvals by the end of the fourth quarter 2023 with 5,841 new records. This represented a rise of 21.2 percent when compared to the same quarter a year earlier.