The Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) and Emirates have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost inbound tourism into Saudi Arabia and attract new segments of travelers across the airline’s extensive global network.
The new agreement aims to capitalize on the airline’s global network of over 120 cities to raise awareness and amplify the Saudi Arabian experience for leisure travelers to come and visit the Kingdom’s unique attractions.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Emirates together with the Saudi Tourism Authority will explore opportunities to jointly collaborate on key initiatives to enhance the Kingdom’s global tourism competitiveness, including promotional activity and travel trade support across key global source markets to convert interest into bookings, sharing insights around market and customer trends, amongst other initiatives.
Through the strategic partnership the airline will also explore opportunities to align its schedules from key source markets in the Emirates network to its gateways in Saudi Arabia, providing greater connectivity and convenience for its customers and further developing inbound tourism arrivals. Emirates and the Saudi Tourism Authority will also evaluate ways to enhance the travel experience that cultivates a more supportive visitor infrastructure for those journeying to Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Medina, the airline’s four gateways.
Emirates today serves Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina, Dammam with 53 weekly flights, including A380 services to Jeddah.
Image caption: The MoU was signed in the presence of Mr. Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO and Board Member of the Saudi Tourism Authority and Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer. Adil Al Ghaith, Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, Gulf, Middle East and Central Asia, and Muhammad Bassrawi, VP of the Saudi Tourism Authority were the signatories of the MoU.
