ASFAR to Asharq Al-Awsat: Tourist Destinations in Western Saudi Arabia Ready to Receive Visitors in 2025

ASFAR pavilion at the Saudi Tourism Forum (Asharq Al-Awsat)
ASFAR pavilion at the Saudi Tourism Forum (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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ASFAR to Asharq Al-Awsat: Tourist Destinations in Western Saudi Arabia Ready to Receive Visitors in 2025

ASFAR pavilion at the Saudi Tourism Forum (Asharq Al-Awsat)
ASFAR pavilion at the Saudi Tourism Forum (Asharq Al-Awsat)

ASFAR, the Saudi Tourism Investment Company, wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund, said that a number of tourism facilities in the Al-Baha and Yanbu regions (west of the Kingdom) will be ready to receive visitors at the beginning of 2025.
ASFAR was established in July, with the aim to invest in tourism projects in various cities of the Kingdom. The company seeks to develop the hospitality, entertainment, retail and food sectors, in addition to investing in the local tourism system. It also aims to empower the private sector through joint investments, and create opportunities for local contractors and suppliers, as well as small and medium-sized companies.
The CEO of ASFAR, Fahad bin Mushayt, told Asharq Al-Awsat that in light of the increase in the number of tourists in Saudi Arabia, the company is working according to an integrated strategy in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and a number of other parties, to develop tourist destinations in the Kingdom.
Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khatib had announced on Monday that the tourism sector’s contribution in 2023 rose to 4.5 percent of the gross domestic product and 7 percent of the total oil output.
According to recent World Tourism Organization figures, the Kingdom achieved a 156 percent recovery in the number of tourist arrivals during 2023 compared to 2019, exceeding the global rate of recovery from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic by 88 percent.
Bin Mushayt stated that the company has begun construction work on resorts in the Al-Baha and Yanbu regions, which are expected to be ready for visitors by the beginning of 2025.
He added that the year 2023 witnessed the signing of many agreements with the regional secretariats and private sector companies in the regions of Hail, Al-Ahsa and Taif, noting that the construction of resorts and tourist facilities in the three regions will begin at the end of 2024.
In a dialogue session at the Real Estate Future Forum, the CEO of ASFAR said that the Kingdom was preparing for a major expansion in the hospitality sector, by establishing 315,000 hotel units by 2030, as the luxury hotel category will constitute 77 percent of upcoming projects.
He noted the number of tourists witnessed a growth of up to 58 percent during the year 2023, which places the Kingdom in second place in the world.

 

 

 

 



IMF Chief Sees Steady World Growth in 2025, Continuing Disinflation

 People visit the lantern festival at the Beijing's Wenyuhe Park in Beijing on January 4, 2025, to welcome the upcoming Chinese New Year on January 29, marking the beginning of the Year of the Snake. (AFP)
People visit the lantern festival at the Beijing's Wenyuhe Park in Beijing on January 4, 2025, to welcome the upcoming Chinese New Year on January 29, marking the beginning of the Year of the Snake. (AFP)
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IMF Chief Sees Steady World Growth in 2025, Continuing Disinflation

 People visit the lantern festival at the Beijing's Wenyuhe Park in Beijing on January 4, 2025, to welcome the upcoming Chinese New Year on January 29, marking the beginning of the Year of the Snake. (AFP)
People visit the lantern festival at the Beijing's Wenyuhe Park in Beijing on January 4, 2025, to welcome the upcoming Chinese New Year on January 29, marking the beginning of the Year of the Snake. (AFP)

The International Monetary Fund will forecast steady global growth and continuing disinflation when it releases an updated World Economic Outlook on Jan. 17, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters on Friday.

Georgieva said the US economy was doing "quite a bit better" than expected, although there was high uncertainty around the trade policies of the administration of President-elect Donald Trump that was adding to headwinds facing the global economy and driving long-term interest rates higher.

With inflation moving closer to the US Federal Reserve's target, and data showing a stable labor market, the Fed could afford to wait for more data before undertaking further interest rate cuts, she said. Overall, interest rates were expected to stay "somewhat higher for quite some time," she said.

The IMF will release an update to its global outlook on Jan. 17, just days before Trump takes office. Georgieva's comments are the first indication this year of the IMF's evolving global outlook, but she gave no detailed projections.

In October, the IMF raised its 2024 economic growth forecasts for the US, Brazil and Britain but cut them for China, Japan and the euro zone, citing risks from potential new trade wars, armed conflicts and tight monetary policy.

At the time, it left its forecast for 2024 global growth unchanged at the 3.2% projected in July, and lowered its global forecast for 3.2% growth in 2025 by one-tenth of a percentage point, warning that global medium-term growth would fade to 3.1% in five years, well below its pre-pandemic trend.

"Not surprisingly, given the size and role of the US economy, there is keen interest globally in the policy directions of the incoming administration, in particular on tariffs, taxes, deregulation and government efficiency," Georgieva said.

"This uncertainty is particularly high around the path for trade policy going forward, adding to the headwinds facing the global economy, especially for countries and regions that are more integrated in global supply chains, medium-sized economies, (and) Asia as a region."

Georgieva said it was "very unusual" that this uncertainty was expressed in higher long-term interest rates even though short-term interest rates had gone down, a trend not seen in recent history.

The IMF saw divergent trends in different regions, with growth expected to stall somewhat in the European Union and to weaken "a little" in India, while Brazil was facing somewhat higher inflation, Georgieva said.

In China, the world's second-largest economy after the United States, the IMF was seeing deflationary pressure and ongoing challenges with domestic demand, she said.

Lower-income countries, despite reform efforts, were in a position where any new shocks would hit them "quite negatively," she said.

Georgieva said it was notable that higher interest rates needed to combat inflation had not pushed the global economy into recession, but headline inflation developments were divergent, which meant central bankers needed to carefully monitor local data.

The strong US dollar could potentially result in higher funding costs for emerging market economies and especially low-income countries, she said.

Most countries needed to cut fiscal spending after high outlays during the COVID pandemic and adopt reforms to boost growth in a durable way, she said, adding that in most cases this could be done while protecting their growth prospects.

"Countries cannot borrow their way out. They can only grow out of this problem," she said, noting that the medium-growth prospects for the world were the lowest seen in decades.