Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) has warned 142 foreign tourism firms that it will impose penalties and cancel their licenses should they not respond to its request to complete updating their data at the comprehensive service centers by Tuesday. Meanwhile, SAGIA has not specified the date when these firms obtained work licenses in the country, according to sources quoted by Al-Jazirah Arabic daily. SAGIA, represented by the Licenses Follow-up Administration, urged the "illegal" firms to rectify their status within 15 days (ending Tuesday) by updating their data. If they do not visit the administration, they will face penalties according to the foreign investment regulation and its executive bylaw, sources said. They said that all the 142 firms had obtained work licenses in the field of hospitality and operation and management of tourism facilities. These include 53 limited liability companies while the remaining 89 are individual establishments and branches of companies. The number of violating companies was highest in Makkah with 50 companies and establishments, followed by Jeddah with 41, Madinah with 27 while the rest were in Riyadh with 17, Al-Khobar with 5, Dammam with one and Taif with one establishment. One of the key conditions for a foreign investor to get a license is that the invested capital should be at least SR2 million, according to detailed controls and rules laid down by the board of directors of SAGIA. The board is allowed to reduce the minimum invested capital in projects established in regions it specifies or in projects that need high technical expertise or are prepared for export. Foreign investment in the Kingdom is passing through changes imposed by unstable economic situations in some European countries and the turmoil in the Arab region. Foreign investment in the Kingdom reached its peak in 2009, nine years after implementing current foreign investment regulations. Since then it has been gradually decreasing. The Kingdom is considered to be one of the largest economies in the region. The political, economic and security stability that the Kingdom enjoys, the economic transparency and the Kingdom joining the World Trade Organization — all these factors that have made Saudi Arabia a location that attracts foreign investment. The volume of foreign and joint investments, according to the latest statistics of SAGIA until 2010, is estimated at SR639 billion.
