Saudi Arabia: The Saudi Tourism Authority and VisitBritain, the UK’s national tourism agency, have signed a declaration of intent to develop and grow tourism.

The signing, at the GREAT Futures Conference, means the two kingdoms will collaborate and share expertise about domestic and international tourism. 

VisitBritain has predicted there will be 240,000 visitors to the UK from Saudi Arabia this year, up 9 percent from 2019. It also predicted that travelers will spend £752 million ($65.56 million) during their trips, up 20 percent since 2019. 

UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Frazer told Arab News: “Today we’ve signed an MoU … because we want to encourage and learn about ‘how do we encourage more Saudis to come to the UK’, ’how do we get more members of Great Britain to come over to Saudi Arabia.

“We’ve always had a very strong relationship, but that relationship is getting closer as Saudi Arabia undergoes this huge societal and economic change.”

She added: “It’s so dynamic and it’s got so many ambitions for the future. And in the UK, we would like to be a strong partner in that. So we’re collaborating in a number of areas sharing knowledge, sharing expertise, sharing best practice.” 

Attending the signing on the first day of the event were Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Vice Minister of Tourism Princess Haifa Al-Saud, and Saudi Tourism Authority CEO Fahd Hamidaddin. 

Alongside Lucy Frazer from the UK were VisitBritain’s chairman, Nick de Bois, and the organization’s CEO, Patricia Yates. 

During her interview with Arab News, the UK secretary of state also discussed a heritage agreement that Historic England was looking to sign with its equivalent organization in Saudi Arabia. This would pave the way for joint training and sharing of expertise around the restoration of palaces and historic buildings.

Frazer also said she was excited to experience her first visit to Saudi Arabia.

“I had a number of meetings with my counterparts, whether that’s the ministers in culture, in sport, or tourism, and I think there are huge opportunities for us to work together. I see a lot of shared values and I’m very much looking forward to working to grow our economies, and to make sure that we can work together well across the board,” she said.

During his opening remarks at the event,  Al-Khateeb said Saudi Arabia and the UK were bound by a deep historical partnership.

He said Saudi Arabia had welcomed more than 165,600 British tourists and issued over 560,462 e-visas for British visitors since 2019.

The minister underlined that GREAT Futures represented an important forum for exchanging qualitative expertise and learning. He added that the conference also served as an opportunity for British companies to participate in the transformation achieved by Saudi Arabia’s Vision 20230. 

The two-day conference, hosted at King Abdullah Financial District, featured 47 sessions and workshops with 127 speakers. It aimed to strengthen Saudi-UK partnerships in 13 sectors including tourism, culture, education, health, sports, investment, trade, and financial services.

The event welcomed 450 British delegates and company heads who held meetings with members of the Saudi community and officials.