BEIJING — Saudi Arabia aims to attract over 4 million visitors from China by 2030, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. The Chinese Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Rao Quan met on Tuesday with Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO and member of the Board of Saudi Tourism Authority (STA). During the meeting, they discussed aspects of joint cooperation between the two countries and ways to enhance the strategic partnership in the field of tourism, in a way that serves common interests, and the importance of unifying international visions and efforts through relevant international organizations. The meeting dealt with the results of the recent Chinese president visit to the Kingdom in December 2022. During the visit, a joint statement issued approving the Kingdom as a tourist destination for China, to enable groups of tourists to visit the Kingdom. Hamidaddin and Quan agreed on the guidelines for signing a memorandum of understanding to facilitate procedures for attracting tourists groups from China. They also agreed to launch joint tourism initiatives between the two countries to develop human capacities working in the tourism sector. This meeting comes within the promotional tour that the Saudi Tourism Authority has set up with its partners from the Saudi tourism sector in China. The tour started in Beijing, then Shanghai, and finally in Guangzhou, to introduce Saudi tourist destinations and build partnerships between the Saudi and Chinese tourism sectors.
