SCTA chief stresses more public spending on domestic tourism

April 7, 2012

Riyadh, April 7: Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), underscored the significance of further developing tourism infrastructure facilities and services in order to prevent Saudis visiting foreign destinations during their vacation.

“The momentum of Saudis leaving for foreign countries having advanced tourist facilities and top standard of services with reasonable prices for all sections of society would continue unless there is more government support for this vital sector,” Prince Sultan said.

“It is the government that can invest in building infrastructure facilities and improving services by attracting investors to the domestic tourism sector,” he added.

Prince Sultan was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the second session of the Travel and Tourism Investment Market 2012 (TTIM), which concluded here on Thursday evening.

About 140 companies and agencies participated in the high-profile event, organized by SCTA, at the Riyadh International Exhibition Center.

TTIM was held as part of the commission’s initiative to promote the Kingdom’s domestic tourism.

The four-day event, opened by Riyadh Gov. Prince Sattam on Monday, showcased various tourism agencies, hotels and transportation services displaying their products and services. This year’s event with the theme of “Tourism for everybody: Partnership toward a sustainable development” was part of SCTA’s initiative to promote domestic tourism in the Kingdom.

The SCTA chief noted that the private sector’s role in developing tourism sector comes only after that of the government. “The private sector has also been playing a great role in developing tourism projects, like in other economic sectors in the Kingdom,” he pointed out.

Prince Sultan said SCTA would announce the statistical figures about the number of Saudis who went abroad for vacationing during the recent second semester school vacation.

According to the prince, SCTA hopes that improving local tourist facilities and organizing various programs in addition to acquiring ability to compete with countries visited by Saudi holidaymakers would help realize enormous economic benefits and contain the outflow of wealth to foreign countries.

The SCTA chief noted that this would also be instrumental in creating more job opportunities for citizens in the tourism sector in addition to bringing forth great benefits so as to enable the citizens to spend their vacation within the Kingdom and know more about their country.

“The loss that surpasses the economic losses is the result of us missing opportunities to make the citizen stay in the Kingdom (to spend his vacation) and understand more (about the Kingdom), enjoy its beauty, know its history, and interact with fellow citizens,” Prince Sultan said.

“This would also leave sweet memories in their minds about their country rather than reliving memories of tourist spots outside the Kingdom,” he added.

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Saudi Arabia: 429 new corona cases found; total 4462 including 59 deaths

Gulf News

April 12,2020

Dubai, Apr 12: Saudi Arabia reported 429 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 4462, the Ministry of Health announced on Sunday.

The ministry also confirmed 7 deaths bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 59.

According to the ministry of health the number of recoveries are 41 cases, making total of recoveries 761.

Ministry also said that 40,000 have been quarantined since the beginning of the epidemic, and only 7,000 remain in quarantine, including those who recently returned from abroad.

Extension of curfew

Early on Sunday, King Salman approved the extension of curfew until further notice due to current rates of coronavirus spread, the official news agency SPA announced.

Earlier last week, Saudi Arabia imposed a 24-hour curfew and lockdown on the cities of Riyadh, Tabuk, Dammam, Dhahran and Hofuf and throughout the governorates of Jeddah, Taif, Qatif and Khobar.

Authorities had already sealed off the holy cities of Makkah and Medina along with Riyadh and Jeddah, barring people from entering and exiting as well as prohibiting movement between all provinces.

Total lockdown on Medina neighbourhoods

The Ministry of Interior also announced a total lockdown on five neighbourhoods in Medina on thursday until further notice. The neighborhoods include Al Sherbat; Bani Dhafar; Qurban, Al Jumuah; and parts of Al Iskan district and Bani Khudrah. No one is allowed to enter or exit these areas.

An official source from the ministry highlighted that the Ministry of Labor and Social Development will provide residents of these neighbourhoods with food baskets and will follow up on their needs while the ministry of health will provide them with necessary medications.

Saudi Arabia, which has reported the highest number of infections in the Gulf, is making every possible effort to limit the spread of the disease at home.

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104 special flights from UAE to India between July 15 and 31 under Vande Bharat Mission

News Network

July 9,2020

Dubai, Jul 9: The Government of India has announced an additional 104 special repatriation flights from the UAE to India as part of the Vande Bharat Mission, Phase 4 from July 15 - 31.

According to a flight schedule listed on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) website, national carriers Air India and Air India Express flights have been scheduled to various cities in 10 Indian states. Each flight has a capacity of 177 passengers.

Vande Bharat Phase 4 officially began on July 3, and in an earlier press briefing Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson of India's Ministry of External Affairs had said 'Phase 4 will focus on repatriation of Gulf-based Indians.

The new additional flights have been organised to cities in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Rajasthan, according to the MEA schedule. To the joy of expats from Maharashtra, at least seven flights have been planned to Mumbai, which has been a less serviced state since the start of the Vande Bharat Mission.

Consul Press, Information, and Culture, Consulate General of India in Dubai Neeraj Agarwal said, "Approximately 100 repatriation flights are planned for the next 23 days, including 50 from Dubai and Sharjah each. If all flights are full, we are looking to evacuate anything between 17,000 to 18,000 passengers in the coming days."

Booking for the newly announced flights will open soon, said Agarwal. "Some of them are already open, and others will be open in the next few days. However, a few flights are subject to slot approvals," he explained.

Commenting on the possibility of flights from India to the UAE, Agarwal said, "We express hope that this too will happen soon." The flight schedule can be seen here: https://www.mea.gov.in/phase-4.htm

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COVID-19: Saudi Arabia reports 493 new cases, 6 deaths

News Network

April 15,2020

Dubai, Apr 15: Saudi Arabia reported 493 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 5869, the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday.

According to the ministry of health, the number of recoveries today are 42 cases, making total of recoveries in the kingdom 931. And 71 critical cases in intensive care.

The ministry also confirmed 6 deaths bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 79.

Saudi Arabia imposed a 24-hour curfew and lockdown on the cities of Riyadh, Tabuk, Dammam, Dhahran and Hofuf and throughout the governorates of Jeddah, Taif, Qatif and Khobar. This week the curfew was extended until further notice.

Overall, Saudi Arabia has reported one of the lowest rates of infection in the region, with around 5,000 cases in a population of over 30 million. Mecca was one of the first Saudi cities to be placed under a full-day curfew, and authorities took unprecedented precautions, suspending religious tourism in February and closing mosques across the country in March.

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