Othaim, the executive head of the Al-Othaim Investment and Development Company, has said that the tourism industry in the Kingdom will provide over 45,000 new jobs by 2014, bringing the total number of employment positions in the sector to 590,000. “The support from Prince Sultan Bin Salman, President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, is a reflection of the concern of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to prepare the right environment for the tourist industry in the Kingdom and to convert it into a productive economic sector and a catalyst for investment growth to raise the standard of living of individuals involved,” Al-Othaim said. “The tourist industry provides many job opportunities across the country for persons of a variety of academic qualifications, and accounts for 6.4 percent of total job opportunities in the private sector,” he said. Al-Othaim also lauded a recent report on the National Project for the Development of Human Resources in Tourism which stated that by the year 2014 there would be 590,000 jobs in tourism. “Recreation and tourist attractions have seen spending of approximately SR6 billion, which is around 10 percent of total spending on tourism in general,” he said.
