RIYADH:聽The Saudi聽Tourism Authority and VisitBritain, the UK鈥檚 national tourism agency, have signed a declaration of intent to develop and grow tourism.
The聽signing,聽at the GREAT Futures聽Conference,聽means the two kingdoms will collaborate and share expertise about domestic and international tourism.聽
VisitBritain has predicted聽there will be聽240,000 visitors to the UK from 黑料社区 this year, up 9 percent from 2019. It also predicted that travelers will spend 拢752 million ($65.56 million) during their trips, up 20 percent since 2019.聽
UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Frazer聽told Arab News: 鈥淭oday聽we鈥檝e signed an MoU聽鈥 because we want to encourage and learn about 鈥榟ow聽do聽we encourage more Saudis to come to the UK鈥,聽鈥檋ow do聽we get more members of Great Britain to come over to 黑料社区.
鈥淲e鈥檝e always had聽a very strong聽relationship, but that relationship is getting closer as 黑料社区 undergoes this huge societal and economic change.鈥
She added: 鈥淚t鈥檚聽so dynamic聽and聽it鈥檚 got聽so many ambitions for the future. And in the UK, we would like to be a strong partner in that. So we鈥檙e collaborating in聽a number of聽areas聽sharing聽knowledge,聽sharing expertise, sharing聽best practice.鈥澛
Attending the signing on the first day of the event were聽Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Vice Minister of聽Tourism聽Princess Haifa Al-Saud, and Saudi Tourism Authority CEO Fahd Hamidaddin.聽
Alongside Lucy Frazer from the UK were VisitBritain鈥檚 chairman, Nick de Bois, and the organization鈥檚 CEO, Patricia Yates.聽
During her interview with Arab News, the UK secretary of state also discussed a heritage agreement that Historic England聽was looking聽to sign with its equivalent organization in 黑料社区.聽This聽would pave the way for joint training and sharing聽of expertise聽around the restoration of聽palaces and historic buildings.
Frazer also said she was excited to experience her first visit to 黑料社区.
鈥淚 had聽a number of聽meetings with my counterparts, whether that鈥檚 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聽and聽I鈥檓 very much looking forward to working to grow our聽economies,聽and to make sure that we can work together well across the board,鈥 she said.
During his opening remarks at the event,聽 Al-Khateeb聽said 黑料社区 and the UK were bound by a deep historical partnership.
He said 黑料社区 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聽an important聽forum for exchanging qualitative expertise and learning.聽He added that the conference also聽served as an opportunity for聽British companies to participate in the transformation achieved by 黑料社区鈥檚 Vision 20230.聽
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聽including聽tourism, culture, education, health, sports, investment,聽trade, and聽financial services.
The event welcomed 450 British delegates and company heads who held meetings with members of the Saudi community and officials.