Interview: Fahd Hamidaddin - Chief Executive Office of Saudi Tourism Authority

Q: How are you improving accessibility for Chinese travelers?

Fahd Hamidaddin: As part of an ambitious tourism plan, underpinned by the Vision 2030 program, Saudi is bolstering its dynamic tourism sector and setting the pace for tourism development and accessibility worldwide. It is working incredibly hard to increase connectivity and welcome visitors from all over the world – especially China.

As Saudi’s tourism sector continues to grow, it is taking the steps to ensure that Chinese travelers experience an authentic, warm Arabian welcome. In cooperation with Chinese partners, it is currently rolling out its ‘China Readiness’ strategy, which will offer a seamless travel experience to Chinese guests. 

In line with this ambitious strategy, Saudi has placed Mandarin signage at key arrival points such as King Khalid International Airport (Riyadh), and VisitSaudi.cn is in Mandarin. Saudiis also expanding the availability of tailored Mandarin services, which includes the training of tour guides who are fluent in Mandarin.

Additionally, Saudi has partnered with Huawei, Alibaba Cloud and has WeChat Mini program to provide seamless travel experiences for the Chinese travellers, in addition to streamlining our payment process systems, offering convenient payment solutions such as UnionPay and Ali Pay+.

China is also one of 57 countries eligible for Saudi’s e-visa and visa on arrival programs. Earlier this year, Saudi introduced a free Stopover Visa, giving visitors the opportunity to experience a stay in Saudi for up to 96 hours. These visits have been supplemented with a complimentary one-night hotel stay,should our guests decide to fly with Saudia.

From a connectivity standpoint, Saudi is collaborating closely with airlines to introduce more routes and enhance the frequency of flights between major cities in the two countries, such as direct flights via Saudia from Jeddah-Beijing and Riyadh-Beijing and daily flights from Guangzhou. Saudi recently announced the launch of the first Chinese airline carrier Hainan Air that will start its direct operations between our two nations on the 1st of October.

In partnership with leading Chinese and international airlines, Saudi is also looking forward to the launch of direct flights to cities like Shanghai and Chengdu, with further details to be announced in the coming months.