Dubai, Turkey, Egypt top Saudis travel list
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Recent research suggest that Saudis chose their vacation destination on many factors, including the trip cost, duration of stay and time of the year.
However, just five percent of Saudi families like to travel long distances in Europe or Asia during short breaks.
Tourism and travel experts noted that Dubai, Turkey and Sharm El-Sheikh were top destinations for Saudi families during mid-year school break. These countries organize tourist festivals this time of the year to attract Arab and Saudi tourists in particular.
Despite the fact that there are attractive elements for domestic tourism in Asir, Baha, Jeddah, Taif and other areas of the Kingdom, they still did not meet aspirations of Saudi tourist who are well experienced in selection of tourism programmes outside the Kingdom.
Domestic tourism has not been able to attract non-Saudi workers in the Kingdom, as more than nine million foreign workers spend most of their annual vacations outside the Kingdom.
According to the World Tourism Organization statistics, number of Saudis who leave each year for foreign tourism is about five million tourists and they spend more than 30 m nights a year. Their spending on tourism is around SAR60 bn annually, while Saudi Arabia receives about 8.5 m visitors from abroad to perform Umrah and Haj. Their total spending is about SAR20 billion.
As for travel to the United States, the US Department of Commerce reports indicate an increase in the number of Saudi tourists by 25 percent, reaching more than 100,000 tourists in 2014.
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