Tourism & Hospitality | Sunday 16 July, 2017 7:55 am |

The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH) will launch on Sunday six initiatives to develop tourism and heritage.

The SCTNH is reviewing its strategies to be in conformity with Vision 2030 and contribute in achieving the goals of the National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020, said chief of the investigation bureau for achieving Vision 2030 in SCTNH Mohamed Al-Nashmi.

There are 31 initiatives for SCTNH and its partners mentioned in NTP 2020.

The six initiatives are: The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Program for taking care national culture and heritage, the ‘Long Live Saudi Arabia’ program, the development of Okaz city in Taif, the initiative entitled ‘the Kingdom as Muslims’ Destination’, the development of integrated tourism destinations for each member of a family, and the initiative to set up financing guarantee in cooperation with the Kafalah program to finance commercial and financial establishments for tourism and heritage projects.

In the State budget for 2017, allocations have been made for all initiatives involving national heritage and tourism worth SR9.93 billion, said Al-Nashmi.

There are 79 projects under the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Program for taking care national culture and heritage.

The ‘Long Live Saudi Arabia’ program will target 122,000 students by 2020. Currently the SCTNH is carrying tours for about 25,000 male and female students this year.

The initiative entitled ‘the Kingdom as Muslims’ Destination’ aims at acquainting people with historical Islamic sites in the Kingdom.