New tourism projects worth SR50 billion will be established in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to Prince Sultan Bin Salman, Secretary General of the Supreme Commission for Tourism (SCT). "SCT intends to carry out a number of tourism projects on the Red Sea coast," he told a group of travel and tourism executives in Tunis last night. "We'll establish coastal resorts on the Red Sea and operate tourist centers in the Kingdom's rural areas to ensure continuous development of urban and rural areas and promote domestic tourism," he explained. Prince Sultan Bin Salman also disclosed plans to hold a variety of programs to attract tourists from the Kingdom and abroad. "We have already decided to organize a car rally with the participation of well-known race drivers in the Kingdom and abroad," he said. The SCT chief said the tourist visa project was in the final stage and would see the light within months. The Foreign Ministry issued this year 5,537 tourist visas to Americans, Europeans and Africans to help them visit the Kingdom under a Saudi Arabian Airlines program titled "Discover Saudi Arabia." The foreign tourists came on one- to two-week package programs organized by Saudia agents abroad and were taken to resorts and heritage sites in Jeddah, Riyadh, Abha, Dammam, Najran and Madain Saleh. --MORE 1017 Local Time 0717 GMT
