Director General of the Mas, Muhammad Al-Ahmad, said the study noted a 10 percent growth in the number of Saudi tourists going to foreign countries during the mid semester vacation compared to the same period last year when 444,979 Saudis traveled out to tourist locations. However, he added that although the number of Saudi tourists going outside was increasing it was not very high as indicated by some media.

He also quoted a statement of the Chairman of the SCTA Prince Sultan bin Salman while opening the Travel and Tourism Investment Market 2012 in Riyadh recently. In his speech, the prince had stressed the need for governments heavy investment in tourism infrastructure as a means to effectively compete with tourist destinations abroad. 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.

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