In partnership with the World Bank, Saudi Arabia made a pledge of USD100 million for the establishment of a global fund to support tourism, as the first international fund of its kind to stimulate the sector’s post-pandemic growth.
The announcement came during a summit launched on Wednesday in Riyadh with the participation of tourism ministers and relevant international organizations, to discuss ways to reshape the future of tourism that has collapsed with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saudi Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khatib stressed that the Kingdom, through its contribution to the establishment of the International Fund for Comprehensive Tourism in cooperation with the World Bank, aims to support human capabilities to make the most of the sector for a more sustainable future, a step that promotes tourism while preserving the local environment.
Khatib underlined the importance of achieving sustainability in the sector in all areas, especially the environment, pointing to the need for sustainable financial resources by diversifying income and investment returns.
“We must rebuild tourism and make it more resilient in the face of crises, to overcome the challenges of the past 14 months, during which many jobs were lost in the sector,” the Saudi minister told the conference.
He also emphasized the importance of global exchange and coordination under the umbrella of the World Tourism Organization (WTO), calling for the development of a unified protocol to facilitate travel.
The minister said that the NEOM project is a destination that offers the world an environmentally friendly sustainable development model, as it offers a transport system free of carbon emissions. Other projects, including the Red Sea, exclusively rely on clean energy, he remarked, noting that Saudi Arabia has also adopted the Green Middle East Initiative to plant billions of trees.
Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization Zurab Pololikashvili hoped the sector would regain its health and growth.
“We are here in Riyadh with senior officials and ministers from around the world to inject many ideas and have the ability to answer many difficult questions, so that we can re-launch tourism safely,” he said.
