Saudi Arabia Taps Trip.com Group for Campaigns to Promote Tourism

China's Trip.com Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Tourism Authority to promote Saudi Arabia as a tourism destination. As part of the collaboration, Trip.com and Saudi Tourism Authority will launch joint marketing campaigns in several markets to drive awareness and attract tourists to Saudi Arabia through Trip.com, Ctrip, Travix, and other travel companies. These markets include Australia, China, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and UK. In addition, both parties will also embark on several capacity-building and knowledge-sharing initiatives in various aspects, including digital payment solutions, sustainability, ticketing, and training. "With Trip.com Group's market capability and advanced technology, I believe the partnership will encourage and entice more visitors worldwide to Saudi Arabia and further enhance recovery in the global tourism sector," said Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO of the Saudi Tourism Authority. In November last year, Trip.com Group signed an agreement to promote Qatar across the globe as a family-friendly tourism destination, and an agreement with Abu Dhabi was signed in May 2022. Speaking at the Skift Global Forum East, Trip.com's Chief Operating Officer, Schubert Lou, said old marketing strategies would not work on the new Chinese traveler. Saudi Arabia had earlier said that it aims to attract 3.9 million visitors from China annually by 2030. In 2019, when Saudi Arabia opened to tourism, the maximum number of tourist visas issued were to Chinese tourists. More than 100,000 Chinese tourists visited Saudi Arabia in 2019.

Abu Dhabi Airports, the operator of the emirate’s five airports, has finalized a new partnership with aviation services specialist Jetex to enhance the VIP passenger experience at Al Bateen Executive Airport. The partnership is symbolic of Abu Dhabi Airports’ strategy to further develop their business aviation offerings. Jetex will assume responsibility for managing daily business services while upgrading key infrastructure within the VIP and VVIP terminals. Abu Dhabi will become the 38th destination in the Jetex global private jet terminal network. The Al Batten airport is the only airport in the Middle East dedicated to business aviation. Last year, expansion work was completed at the airport, which involved the resurfacing and widening of the 3.2-kilometer runway to accommodate widebody aircraft, in addition to upgraded ground lighting, enhanced