RIYADH — The Indian missions in Riyadh and Jeddah jointly staged a webinar on Sunday titled “Tourism Collaboration between India and Saudi Arabia” in which stakeholders in the tourism sector from both the countries participated. The Embassy on India in collaboration with Consulate General of India, Jeddah, Ministry of Tourism, government of India, Saudi Tourism Authority (STA), Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) and Saudi India Business Network (SIBN) organized the virtual discussion. The discussion started with keynote address of Indian Ambassador Dr. Ausaf Sayeed. He outlined the diverse types of tourism opportunities which India offers like adventure tourism, cultural tourism, medical and spiritual tourism along with scenic tourism. The Ambassador also elaborated on the opportunities in Indian medical tourism in terms of AYUSH treatment along with allopathy while underline the traction gained by yoga in the Kingdom as a result of which a MoU for yoga collaboration was signed recently with the Kingdom. He sought facilitation from Saudi authorities to ease the travel ban on India gradually while considering the options of health/vaccination certificates along with other COVID-19 safety protocols. The Ambassador praised Kingdom’s effort to boost the tourism sector post pandemic while talking about the recently organized Tourism Revival Summit and the setting up of the Tourism Development Fund. During the discussion, Augustus Simon, director of Indian Subcontinent, Saudi Tourism Authority, underlined the focus of the Kingdom on tourism sector under Vision 2030, while highlighting key destinations and tourism projects like NEOM, Amaala, and Qiddiya among others. The panelists discussed about the existing MoU in tourism sector between India and Saudi Arabia and the key areas of collaboration etc. G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, IAS, chairman and managing director, India Tourism Development Corporation, Ministry of Tourism, government of India also participated in the discussion and briefed the audience about avenues for tourism in India and the post pandemic business opportunities offered by the sector in the country. Khalid Al Aboodi, president of the SIBN Riyadh regional chapter, Ashok Sethi, dDirector, Trade Promotion Council of India, Abdullah Saud Al Twaijiri, corporate manager - ITL Saudi Arabia and Ravi Gosain, vice president – IATO also spoke during the webinar. The event witnessed participation from relevant Indian and Saudi government entities and tourism companies from both countries along with several Indian and Saudi nationals. — SG