The Saudi Ministry of Tourism issued on Sunday 10 new regulations to keep pace with the Kingdom’s development as part of effort to provide an attractive environment for investment in Saudi tourism.
The new Saudi measures aim to improve the quality of services and protect the rights of tourists, in addition to supporting the tourism sector and increasing job opportunities. They were drafted after reviewing the opinions and observations of various stakeholders.
The regulations covered tourism hospitality facility, traveling and tourism services, tourist guides, tourism hospitality facilities management, tourism consultancy, private tourist hospitality facility, experimental activities and the inspection of tourism activities. They also cover committees that look into violations of the tourism law and at tourist destinations.
Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb said that the new regulations are part of the ministry’s efforts to achieve the goals of the general strategy for the development of national tourism.
“These regulations would allow the ministry to strengthen cooperation with the private sector, and to offer job opportunities for the national competencies in the sector,” he added.
He also noted that the regulations were aligned with international best practices that were selected based on the index of the top 10 countries in travel and tourism competitiveness issued by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
They also meet the directives of the Kingdom’s leadership to build a competitive tourism sector globally, he underlined.
The ministry has granted tourism agencies and operators a period of 90 days to adjust their conditions in line with the new regulations and standards.
The new regulations can be accessed through the ministry’s website or its official social media channels.
