Saudi Arabia’s vision on the tourism sector is based on its basic values and culture in the first place, followed by the economic importance and regional and international weight it enjoys RIYADH: The Saudi Commission of Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) has announced plans to fund 33 new tourism projects across the Kingdom, as part of a lending initiative to aid the sector in underdeveloped Saudi regions. Abdul Majid bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Nasser, the SCTH’s director general of tourism investment, said that the initiative, in partnership with the Ministry of Finance, approved proposals for 33 projects at a cost of more than SR1,100 billion ($294 million). Al-Nasser added that a joint committee formed by the SCTH and the ministry was also studying funding for six other projects worth an additional SR71 million. The funds will go toward developing a range of plans across the hospitality sector, including hotels, conference centers, infrastructure and tourist resorts. The hope is that, as well as highlighting the many attractions on offer in less-heralded parts of the country, the initiative will also lead to an upswing in job creation. Saudi Arabia’s vision on the tourism sector is based on its basic values and culture in the first place, followed by the economic importance and regional and international weight it enjoys, as well as its value-based interaction with other communities. Earlier this month, SCTH undertook registration of 1,127 artifacts and relics that it successfully managed to restore from America, in coordination with the Saudi Foreign Ministry. Some of the items recovered date back to prehistoric times. The director-general of archiving and protecting antiquities at SCTH, Naif Al-Qannour, said the commission had stepped up its efforts to recover national treasures from inside and outside the Kingdom. Al-Qannour added that many of the objects had been voluntarily handed over to the Kingdom by relatives of US citizens who worked in Saudi Arabia during the 1960s.