Dr. Faisal Al-Sharif, Director General of the General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage in the Holy Capital, reviewed the most prominent articles in the system, which regulates activities and professions related to the sector, starting from licensing and classification, then control and ending with penalties, explaining the incentives for investment in the sector, and coincided with the start of the electronic transformation of the Authority.

This coincided with the start of the electronic transformation of the Authority.

Seven regulations of the Makkah Chamber

During his speech at the introductory workshop for the tourism system and the system of antiquities, museums and urban heritage hosted by the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Al-Sharif addressed seven regulations emanating from the tourism system, including the regulation of tourist accommodation facilities, the regulation of travel agencies, a separate regulation for tourist guides, another for reservation offices and tourist accommodation units, the regulation of tourist trips, a new activity that differs from travel agencies, the regulation of tourist centers and the regulation of the committee to review violations and sanctions, indicating that these regulations have become available to those concerned on the website or the electronic mobile application.

These regulations are available on the Authority's website or on the mobile phone's e-application.

Electronic transformation begins

As part of the electronic transformation of the Authority, where licensing, application and reservations are currently done electronically, Al-Sharif indicated that the executive regulations in the system obligated every owner of a tourist accommodation facility to have a website, on which the prices are indicated, adding, “One of the major leaps that will ensure the realization of the executive regulations is in the technical aspect.”

The electronic transformation of the Authority, where licensing, application and reservations are currently done electronically.

100 million riyals for domestic tourism

Al-Sharif warned that one of the objectives of the Authority is to keep the Saudi tourist within his country and improve the status of domestic tourism, and that the National Transformation Program has approved 100 million riyals for all tourism projects as the sector is one of the important transformation horses, noting that the Entertainment Authority system will be issued soon to determine the foundations of work in it.

Dr. Dr. Faisal Al-Sharif stressed that the new tourism system has achieved a qualitative leap in prices, as it gave investors in the sector the freedom to set prices that achieve their interest according to a specific mechanism, and at the same time tightened the penalties for violators, as Article 7 of the new system for practicing the activity imposed a fine of 100 thousand riyals for those who practice the activity without a license, and the fine is repeated in the event of a return to 200 thousand riyals with the cancellation of the license, while the Saudization of the sector will be completed in 2020.

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The Saudization of the sector by 2020

. <He stressed that the Ministry of Labor has identified specific professions in which Saudization is mandatory, and the Authority applies this order in detail, and one of the objectives of the Authority's existence is to create job opportunities for citizens, adding, "We have the National Center for Tourism Human Resources Development (Takamol), which constantly organizes permanent meetings with partners, and about 350 people have been employed between males and females. And here in the Makkah Chamber organized three different meetings in less than a year, in addition to the direct recruitment forum held last Shaaban, indicating that the directives set the year 2020 as the date for the Saudization of the entire sector by 100 percent, and many efforts are currently being made to achieve this goal through training, especially in some rare specialties.