NEW DELHI: India’s travel industry has witnessed a surge in the number of tourists going to Saudi Arabia after its recent promotional campaigns to attract two million Indian visitors by the year’s end.
India has become Saudi Arabia's main source market for tourists during the previous two years. In the upcoming years, the Saudi Tourism Authority expects it will surpass all others in size.
The Saudi Tourism Authority hosted a number of events throughout India in February to highlight the historical sites and and futuristic projects of the Kingdom. In order to leverage a sizable sports viewership for promotion, it has struck a collaboration arrangement with the Indian Premier League, the most-watched T20 cricket franchise in the world.
According to data from MakeMyTrip, the largest Indian online travel agency, the efforts have already produced results. Raj Rishi Singh, the company's chief business officer said, "the search indices for Saudi Arabia reflect an upward trend, growing by 20% quarter-on-quarter during the January-March 2023 quarter compared to October-December 2022."
The desired impact is now being produced by the most recent campaigns. Jeddah, Riyadh, and Dammam were the top three travel destinations for visitors from India, who primarily came from large cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, and other metropolises.
Saudi tourism officials are focusing their efforts on fostering relationships with key players in the Indian tourism business and investing in marketing and branding initiatives that are expressly targeted at the Indian market in order to raise the numbers even more.
Alhasan Al-Dabbagh, the STA's regional director for Asia Pacific, reportedly said that the cmpany aims to bring over 2 million Indian tourists to Saudi Arabia by the end of this year. "We plan to use the popularity of Bollywood, football, and cricket icons to draw visitors to Saudi Arabia," he added.
By 2030, India has the potential to become a significant sourcing market. In order to reach the target of attracting 100 million visitors worldwide by the following year, this will be essential.
With 2,500 members, the Travel Agents Association of India is one of the biggest business associations in the nation and has partnered with the STA to further this objective.
Travel Agents Association of India President Jyoti Mayal said that with heavy investment in tourism infrastructure and with its flagship initiatives such as the Red Sea Project, NEOM, Qiddiya, the Kingdom has created space for all kinds of visitors, from leisure and family tourists to business and conference ones.
"Saudi branding can now be seen on social media and in cricket stadiums around India. All of this is generating tremendous interest in visiting less-traveled areas, as per reports. The focus is on highlighting technology and modernisation as well as the region's extensive historic and geological assets.
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