Job opportunities in the tourism sector of the Kingdom are expected to reach 1.7 million by 2020, according to the Tourism Information and Research Center (MAS), the statistical division of the the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH).

“This total figure includes the number of direct and indirect jobs in the labor market in the tourism sector and other sectors associated and benefiting from tourism in the Kingdom,” the latest report released by MAS said.

The statistical report further said that the number of jobs in the tourism accommodation sector in 2015 will go up to 113,048 and this number is expected to increase to 129,526 jobs by 2017 due to the execution of a number of hotel mega-projects across the Kingdom especially in the two Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah and in the capital city Riyadh.

MAS statistics further indicated that the number of direct job opportunities in the tourism sector until the end of 2014 reached over 795,000 and the number is estimated to rise to over 840,000 by the end of 2015, while the number of indirect jobs by the end of 2014 reached over 397,000, and is expected to exceed 420,000 by the end of 2015.

The total of direct and indirect jobs was 1,192,285 by the end of 2014, and this number is predicted to rise to 1,262,153 by the end of 2015.

Moreover, according to the report the tourism accommodation sector in the Kingdom is witnessing rapid growth in investments, as the number of tourism accommodation facilities (hotels, furnished apartments, hotel villas, hotel apartments, tourism inns, roadside hotels and resorts), reached 3,710 by the end of 2014, with 1,222 hotels and 2,488 furnished apartments.

Keeping with this trend, the number of hotel rooms in the Kingdom has reached 299,500 and furnished apartments 87,050.

Notably, tourism is currently the second most important economic sector in the Kingdom, where Saudization has reached 28 percent and the estimated number of people working in the tourism sector by 2025 is predicted to reach 317,352 compared to 94,249 in 2014.

According to industry experts, the tourism sector has potential to create concrete change in the national economy and emerge as the future alternative to crude oil.

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