Three quarters of Saudi nationals now consider the tourism industry as a viable career option as the kingdom steps up its campaign to become a major global player.
Traditionally an industry that struggled to attract Saudis, a new survey by the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia indicate that 75 percent of Saudis have a positive perception towards jobs in tourism.
According to the poll, 83 percent of Saudis said that jobs across tourism subsectors were an attractive option.
Overall, 80 percent of respondents said they felt that there were plenty of opportunities for career learning and professional development, while 75 percent felt careers in tourism will provide long-term job stability.
The regions with the highest interest in careers in tourism include Tabuk (91 percent), Hail (86 percent), Asir (85 percent), Riyadh (82 percent) and Al Jouf (83 percent) while there was no significant difference by gender when it came to overall sector interest level.
With Saudi becoming one of the fastest-growing destinations in the world, the ministry is keen to advance the sector, recently announcing the Tourism Academy in Riyadh in collaboration with UNWTO, and training more than 137,000 people throughout the Your Future is Tourism program in 2021.
The ministry said the number of employees in the Saudi tourism sector rose by 10 percent last year compared to 2020.
In addition, huge players in the hospitality industry are investing in Saudi Arabia, creating new job opportunities for Saudis.
In line with Vision 2030 and the National Tourism Strategy, the ministry aims to create one million new jobs across the sector by 2030, and increasing the contribution in the national GDP to 10 percent.
Bandar AlSafeer, general manager of Tourism Nationalisation and Training, said: “The Ministry of Tourism’s job attractiveness study provides a clear indication of the positive contribution that Saudi’s nascent tourism is making towards the realisation of Vision 2030’s objective to create engaging and enriching prospects for Saudis.
“It is encouraging to see that an overwhelming majority of those polled expressed an interest in pursuing a job in the tourism sector, a testament to the dynamic work being undertaken by the Ministry of Tourism.
“We expect these positive results to continue to grow due to the continuous development of the kingdom’s tourism sector, including giga projects development and inward investment.”
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