RIYADH — Saudi Arabia and Oman discussed the prospect of launching uniform tourist visa, and a joint tourism calendar. These topics figured high during the visit of Saudi Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb to Oman. The visit witnessed the launch of a number of joint tourism initiatives and programs aimed at attracting international tourists, citizens and expatriates of the GCC countries. The initiatives, which were discussed by Al-Khateeb and Oman's Minister of Heritage and Tourism Salim Al Mahrouqi, included working on launching a unified tourist visa, a number of seasonal trips between the two countries, and launching a joint tourism calendar. One of the initiatives focused on activating trade and investment cooperation, especially projects in the tourism sector and supporting entrepreneurs interested in tourism in the two countries. The initiatives also included training and developing human cadres in the tourism sector under the umbrella of the Gulf Tourism Strategy 2023-2030, which was approved by the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries last December. During the meeting, it was agreed to launch joint tourism initiatives as a first stage covering the areas of promotion, marketing, tourism activation, tourism regulations, cooperation in the field of air connections and seasonal flights. The two sides also agreed on implementing joint tourism programmes in the field of camping and adventure tourism, a calendar of joint tourism events and a programme to support small and medium enterprises in the tourism sector. The number of tourists coming from Oman to the Kingdom accounted for approximately 164,000 tourists during the first quarter of 2023, with a growth rate of 136 percent over the same period in 2022, and their spending amounted to about SR310 million during the same period, achieving a growth of 71 percent. While the number of tourists departing from the Kingdom to Oman reached approximately 49,000 tourists during the first quarter of this year, with a growth rate of 92 percent from the same period in 2022, and the growth rate of spending for tourists departing from the Kingdom to Oman increased by 117 percent, reaching SR213 million.
