Saudi Vision 2030

Saudi Vision 2030: The Future is in Your Hands

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is witnessing an unparalleled civilizational renaissance, having succeeded in attracting the world’s attention to its economy, history, and cultural heritage and its tourist importance. As the Saudi economy ranks among the top twenty economies globally and is the largest in the Middle East. Additionally, Saudi Arabia possesses the second most valuable natural resources in the world. The oil and natural gas reserves within the kingdom have established it as a major energy power and a significant economic force worldwide.

Despite this immense oil wealth, the Saudi leadership launched Vision 2030 to reduce the country’s dependence on oil and diversify its economic resources. The vision involves implementing economic reforms to lessen reliance on oil as a primary economic activity and developing strategies , especially tourism sector strategies to diversify non-oil income sources as part of Saudi Vision 2030.

Description of Vision 2030

“Saudi Vision 2030” is defined as a long-term strategic plan for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was first announced on April 25, 2016. The plan was organized by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and was subsequently presented to the Council of Ministers, led by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, for approval.

The vision aligns with a timeline to complete 80 giant government projects, each costing between 3.7 billion riyals and 20 billion riyals. To effectively implement such a plan, cooperation between the public, private, and non-profit sectors was essential.

Many of the projects are of a touristic nature to attract the largest number of foreign tourists and make the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia one of the first countries that tourists include in their travel plans.

Key Objectives of the Vision

Vision 2030 aims to achieve strategic goals that will position the Kingdom as a major destination for investors, businessmen, and tourists. The Vision’s programs target a comprehensive and tangible transformation across all sectors. Among the most significant goals of the Vision are:

• Increasing the capacity to receive pilgrims and Umrah visitors from 8 million to 30 million, while improving their overall experience by providing them with cheap flight tickets, cheap hotels, tour guides, etc.
• Doubling the number of UNESCO World Heritage sites, a goal achieved in 2021, with the aim of preserving cultural heritage and drew the World Tourism Organization’s attention more to the Kingdom.
• Raising the proportion of household spending on culture and entertainment by providing diverse cultural and entertainment events.
• Creating new sectors for citizens to benefit from.
• Aspiring for the Kingdom’s advancement in the logistics services index from 45th to 25th globally and first regionally.
• Raising non-oil exports from 16% to at least 50% of the non-oil GDP.
• Increasing non-oil government revenues from 163 billion to one trillion riyals annually, contributing to the diversification of the national economy , especially in the tourism sector..

Programs of Saudi Vision 2030

The Vision encompasses a variety of programs designed to cover all sectors within the Kingdom and restructure them to enhance their productivity. Vision programs can be defined as a set of interconnected programs that represent the roadmap for achieving the Vision under the oversight of the Council of Economic Affairs. These programs continuously engage with government entities, with 11 programs outlined to achieve Saudi Vision 2030. The main programs include:

1. National Transformation Program: Aims to develop the governmental, private, and non-profit sectors. It focuses on 34 strategic goals across various sectors and is concerned with infrastructure development.
2. Financial Sustainability Program: Focuses on state financial planning and public finance development, contributing to reducing the budget deficit from GDP and enhancing non-oil revenues.
3. Public Investment Fund Program: Works on developing Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, making it one of the largest global funds by maximizing its assets and creating new sectors in Saudi Arabia to diversify the economy.
4. Guest Services Program: Aims to provide the opportunity for the largest number of Muslims to perform Hajj and Umrah. It focuses on preparing the Holy Mosques to facilitate the Hajj and Umrah journeys, enriching the religious and cultural experience of pilgrims and offering high-quality services.
5. Quality of Life Program: Enhances the quality of life for citizens, residents, and visitors, with 10 strategic goals serving recreational, cultural, sports, and tourism sectors, among others.
6. Privatization Program: Involves engaging the private sector in development by transferring government assets to it, which helps attract investments, diversify income sources, improve the balance of payments, and enhance the quality of government services.
7. Human Capital Development Program: Covers the educational journey from early childhood, equipping learners with skills to be globally competitive, and instilling positive values among beneficiaries.

Results of the Vision

There have been significant transformations in the Kingdom across various sectors as an initial result of working towards the goals and programs of Vision 2030. The Kingdom’s leaders have begun to reap the rewards of their dedicated efforts in serving the nation. Notable results of Vision 2030 include:

• Non-oil activities recorded the highest historical contribution to GDP at 50%.
• Increased non-oil government revenues.
• A reduction in inflation levels, aligning with the Vision’s goals to achieve a thriving economy by diversifying growth drivers through implementing major Vision programs and projects.
• The Kingdom continued its progress in the Global Competitiveness Yearbook, achieving 17th place out of 64 countries and 3rd place among G20 countries.
• Three Saudi cities were ranked among the top 100 cities worldwide for improving quality of life and urban planning.
• Recent IMF forecasts indicate that the Saudi economy is poised to become the second-best economic performance among G20 countries by 2025.

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