With more than 100 new hotel projects coming up across Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom is all set to play a major role in the global tourism scene, according to an expert.

"Amongst our national goals and tourism development strategies are critical ones such as: supporting domestic tourism, limiting the financial leakage of external tourism, developing tourist investments inside the Kingdom, and accomplishing the most important and ultimate goal of Saudisation," remarked Dr Salah Al Bukhayyet, VP, Investments of Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities (SCTA).

He was speaking at the start of the 5th Annual Kingdom Hotel Expansion Summit held at the InterContinental Hotel Riyadh.

"Saudi people are historically known for their generosity, so we are speaking about a community which is used to hosting visitors and serving them in the best way. Governmental organisation for the hospitality sector started 30 years ago," noted Dr Al Bukhayyet.

He outlined the progress made by the SCTA programme – now in its third year – which is driving tourism across the country.

Organised by French deal facilitation group naseba, the annual summit is the only platform bringing together diverse stakeholders from the hospitality sector, including owners, operators, government authorities, designers, architects and global solution providers.

Naseba managing director Fabien Faure said Saudi was a really strong market and perhaps the most unique in the world.

"With more than 100 new hotel projects in development across Kingdom, we are excited to have the support of the SCTA for this initiative, which aims to help further drive the hospitality sector," he added.-TradeArabia News Service