Saudi minister welcomes Chinese visitors as Saudi Arabia aims to boost tourism

Saudi Arabia's tourism minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb said he welcomed the arrival of more tourists from China, highlighting it as a major market for Saudi Arabia which is aiming to build a thriving tourism economy in line with its ambitious Saudi Vision 2030.

In an interview on Monday with China Global Television Network (CGTN) at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Al-Khateeb discussed the country's hopes for a robust tourism sector that will grow its contribution to national GDP to 10 percent by 2030.

"For us in Saudi Arabia, travel and tourism is a main pillar of our 2030 vision where we opened up this sector back in 2019 for people to come and explore the beauty and the culture, and the welcoming nation of Saudi Arabia and to further diversify our economy and make it more resilient. Therefore, tourism for us in Saudi Arabia is very, very important. We are investing heavily in the sector to build new destinations and therefore, for us in Saudi Arabia, travelers and tourism is very, very important, and we want to take it from about five percent of our economy to 10 percent by 2030, which is the global average," he said.

Al-Khateeb said that Saudi Arabia has improved its tourism offering to attract more visitors from China, especially young people.

"They (Chinese) are coming to explore our Arabian hospitality because they love it. We are a very welcoming nation. They want to explore also the culture and the history in Saudi Arabia, and many other civilizations passed and left behind their history and heritage, and also to enjoy the mountains in the south and enjoy our culture. Therefore, for us, China is a very important market. We are building and enriching our content for the future travelers, especially the younger generation, to come and enjoy the vast and attractive offerings by the country," he said.

Saudi minister welcomes Chinese visitors as Saudi Arabia aims to boost tourism

China's engineering machinery exports maintained rapid growth in the first two months of this year, rising 33.4 percent year on year to 10.686 billion U.S. dollars, according to the China Construction Machinery Association on Monday.

Even in February, which included the week-long annual Spring Festival holiday, the exports surpassed 5.1 billion U.S. dollars, 50.16 percent higher than the average monthly export value recorded in the entire year of 2025.

Split by regions, China's engineering machinery exports grew across all continents, with Africa recording a 77 percent surge, Oceania registering an increase of 50.6 percent, and Europe seeing a growth of 28.1 percent year on year, respectively.

Meanwhile, the exports to the Belt and Road partner countries totaled 4.638 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 43.4 percent of the total, an increase of 24.6 percent year on year. Computed by product categories, significant growth was seen in the export of engineering machinery parts, crawler excavators, and off-highway mining dump trucks, indicating that high-end and electric models are emerging as new highlights on the export market.

China's engineering machinery exports up 33.4 percent in January-February