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Saudi Arabia Ranks 12th Globally in International Tourism Receipts

Saudi Arabia Ranks 12th Globally in International Tourism Receipts
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Saudi Arabia Ranks 12th Globally in International Tourism Receipts

Saudi Arabia Ranks 12th Globally in International Tourism Receipts

Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector continues its impressive growth, advancing 15 positions in international tourism receipts and leading the Top 50 ranking in upward movement, SPA reported.

According to the UN World Tourism Organization, Saudi Arabia ranked 12th in 2023, making a significant improvement from its 2019 ranking.
In a press release issued Friday, Saudi Arabia has led G20 countries in growth on the UN Tourism Barometer, achieving a 73% increase in international tourist arrivals and a 207% rise in international tourism receipts based on the latest data from the first seven months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2019.

These impressive gains reflect the Kingdom’s success as a leading tourism destination. The steady increase in international tourist arrivals further underscores the trust visitors place in Saudi Arabia’s rich and diverse attractions. Globally, international tourist arrivals reached 96% of pre-pandemic levels in the first seven months of 2024, totalling an estimated 790 million tourists – an 11% increase over the same period in 2023.
The release disclosed that the Middle East maintained the lead as the strongest-growing region, with international arrivals rising 26% over 2019 levels.

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Israeli Cabinet Approves 2025 State Budget with Spending Cuts to Pay for Ongoing War

A usually crowded beach in Tel Aviv is nearly deserted on August 25, 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)
A usually crowded beach in Tel Aviv is nearly deserted on August 25, 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)
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Israeli Cabinet Approves 2025 State Budget with Spending Cuts to Pay for Ongoing War

A usually crowded beach in Tel Aviv is nearly deserted on August 25, 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)
A usually crowded beach in Tel Aviv is nearly deserted on August 25, 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)

The Israeli cabinet approved a long-delayed wartime budget package on Friday that includes a raft of tax increases and spending cuts to pay for a war that has entered its second year with no immediate end in sight.

Israel has had to boost military spending by billions of shekels to accommodate the cost of a war that has resulted in thousands of troops deployed in Gaza and Lebanon, while much of the economy has slowed drastically due to a lack of workers. This week, the finance ministry cut the 2024 growth outlook for the second time this year to just 0.4% from an earlier estimate of 1.1%.

The cost of fighting and the absence of tens of thousands of reservists serving at the front, along with the exclusion of thousands of Palestinian workers from Israel for security reasons, have weighed heavily on the main pillars of the economy including tech, construction and agriculture.

"The main goal in the 2025 budget is maintaining the security of the state and achieving victory on all fronts, while maintaining the resilience of the Israeli economy," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a statement.

In all, the budget includes a roughly 40-billion-shekel package of tax hikes and spending cuts to try to rein in a budget deficit now running at 8.5% of GDP.

Overall spending was set at 744 billion shekels ($199.23 billion), of which 161 billion will go towards debt servicing.

All three of the main credit-rating agencies have cut their ratings on Israel this year on worries that the war could continue well into next year.

Among the measures likely to bite hardest on Israeli households, value-added tax will rise in 2025 to 18% from 17%. In addition, there will be spending cuts across most ministries.

The package will have to go to parliament for approval, which Smotrich said was expected by January. Failure to approve the budget by the end of March would trigger new elections.