UN World Tourism Organization chooses Riyadh as Middle East HQ

The Riyadh office’s mission will be to coordinate policies and initiatives across 13 countries in the Middle East and to promote tourism products and sustainable development, Al Arabiya reported.

The office will also collect statistics, help to stimulate investment in tourism, and work to define regional health and safety policies for the sector.

Separately, Saudi Arabia, in partnership with the World Bank, pledged $100 million to establish the International Fund for Comprehensive Tourism, said Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al- Khateeb.

It will be the first global fund dedicated specifically to supporting global tourism growth, as it aims to build human and institutional capacity across the pandemic-battered sector, Al-Khateeb said on the sidelines of the Tourism Recovery Summit 2021 in Riyadh, Argaam reported.

“We learned that the industry is not flexible enough, we lost many jobs in the sector 14 months ago and many companies left the work system, and we know that all businesses are led by the private sector, so we have to rebuild a tourism industry that is more flexible to face such crisis,” said Al-Khateeb.

Al-Khateeb criticized the European Union for developing a protocol for solo travel for the next summer season, without coordination with other countries.

The tourism sector is “one global sector.,” so we have to put in place a unified protocol to facilitate travel, he said.