Saudi Arabia allows electronic visit visas for citizens of 8 additional countries
Shrouq
Visitors from all over the world, stressing the importance of the announcement by the Ministry of Tourism, in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, and the relevant authorities, to provide visit visas “electronically” for eight new countries: Albania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, the Maldives, and South Africa. Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, bringing the total number of countries eligible for a visitor visa to 57 country.
Saudi tourism
This decision comes in the context of the efforts of the Saudi tourism system, and its integration with many government agencies in order to achieve the aspirations of the tourism sector in line with the Kingdom's Vision 2030, and aimed at attracting more segments of visitors around the world. To reach 100 million visits annually by 2030, in addition to consolidating Saudi Arabia's position on the global tourism map.
Citizens of these countries, who wish to issue a visit visa to the Kingdom, can visit the portal dedicated to the electronic visa to learn about all the information and facilities provided.
Attracted millions of visitors
Since the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia launched the visit visa in September of the year 2019 AD for the purpose of tourism, performing Umrah outside the Hajj season, or attending events, exhibitions and conferences, the Kingdom has attracted millions of visitors and pushed the growth of the sector to unprecedented heights. As the Kingdom received 93.5 million visits in the year 2022 AD, and the total tourism spending amounted to 185 billion riyals (49 billion US dollars), an increase of 93% compared to the previous year 2021.
Electronic visit visa
It is noteworthy that the electronic visit visa has recently been made available to permanent residents of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom, in addition to holders of visitor visas to the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Schengen area.
