2.3 million tourists from Kuwait visited Saudi Arabia in 2023

• The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia saw a record-breaking 27.42 million foreign tourists in 2023, marking a 64.8% increase from the previous year.

• Saudi Arabia received 136.68 million incoming tourists over the last nine years, with total spending amounting to $198.63 billion.

• During the past year, tourists from the GCC countries were the largest group visiting the Kingdom, totaling about 8.6 million.

According to data from the Saudi Ministry of Tourism, the Kingdom welcomed 2.3 million tourists from Kuwait in 2023. This ranks Kuwait second in the Gulf and fourth globally for the number of tourists visiting Saudi Arabia last year, Al Anba newspaper reported.

During the past year, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia achieved a remarkable increase in the number of foreign tourists arriving, with the total reaching 27.42 million visitors—the highest number ever recorded. This represents a 64.8% increase year-on-year, or an additional 10.78 million tourists compared to 2022, when the number of visitors was 16.64 million. The total spending of tourists from abroad during the past year amounted to about 141.2 billion riyals.

During the past year, tourists from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries were the largest group visiting the Kingdom, totaling about 8.6 million.
Tourists from Asia and the Pacific followed with approximately 7.9 million, while those from the Middle East numbered around 5.6 million. Visitors from European countries totaled about 2.7 million, from Africa two million, and from the Americas 470,000.

In 2023, Saudi Arabia received 18.7 million tourists from just ten countries, accounting for 68.2% of the total visitors. Bahrain led the list with 3.39 million tourists, followed by Egypt with 2.59 million and Pakistan with 2.47 million.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) sent approximately 1.37 million tourists, while Qatar contributed about 1.09 million and the Sultanate of Oman 455,000.

It is noteworthy that Saudi Arabia received 136.68 million incoming tourists over the last nine years, with total spending amounting to 744.87 billion riyals ($198.63 billion). The purposes of their visits varied, including religious tourism, vacations, entertainment, sports, visiting relatives, and business.

Hotels are the primary hospitality facility for tourists from abroad, hosting 15.7 million visitors, or 57% of the total. Private residences followed, accommodating 5.7 million tourists (21%), while serviced apartments hosted 5.3 million tourists (19%). Together, hotels and serviced apartments account for 76% of the total hospitality facilities for international tourists.