Saudi Arabia is targeting 100 million annual visits by 2030 DUBAI: The fourth quarter of this year could be a turning point for Saudi Arabia’s tourism industry as the countries that the Kingdom is targeting reach a 70 percent vaccination rate. Saudi Tourism Authority CEO Fahd Hamidaddin made the prediction at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai as the Kingdom also reopened its borders on Monday. Although foreign tourists are still not allowed to travel to the Kingdom, Hamidaddin said earlier on Monday that it was preparing to reopen its borders for inbound travel soon. Saudi Arabia has opened international tourism offices in major countries including China and Russia and is targeting 28 markets in a global marketing push. Hamidaddin said international tourism in the country could only boom when other countries also restarted their travel industries — and that this could only be fully considered after they had reached a vaccination rate of 70 percent. He said that such a vaccination milestone may be reached in the last quarter of the year. Saudi Arabia opened up the Kingdom to international tourism in September 2019, and has since announced a number of mega projects to attract visitors, including a $530 million fund to develop key destinations across the Kingdom. Market research firm Euromonitor International estimated in March that inbound tourism spending in Saudi Arabia would reach $25.3 billion by 2025, recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Saudi domestic tourism exceeded expectations during the pandemic, despite the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) describing 2020 as “the worst year on record” in the history of tourism. Saudi Arabia is targeting 100 million annual visits by 2030, up from about 40 million a year before the pandemic. It wants tourism to account for 10 percent of GDP, up from 3 percent, by 2030.