The General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage in the Hail region presented the lending rules for the hotel and tourism project financing program to investors, businesspeople, and those interested in investing in the tourism sector at the Hail Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in order to inform them of the new regulations issued by the Ministry of Finance regarding loans for hotel and tourism projects.

This was announced during a special workshop that brought together industry officials and a select group of investors, including business leaders. Speaker Dr. Sari Al-Shammari, an investment sector advisor at the Authority, explained that this workshop outlines for investors in the tourism sector the procedures and methods of obtaining loans, the necessary conditions for obtaining loans, and which projects are suitable. He also noted that the Authority has established investment centers at its branches across the Kingdom to track applications and facilitate businesspeople’s interactions with other agencies and the Authority’s partners.

For his part, Khalid Al-Saif, Director General of the General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage in Hail, revealed that there are more than twenty ready-to-go tourism investment opportunities, and noted that the Authority has signed several cooperation agreements with the Ministry of Finance, the Credit and Savings Bank, the Agricultural Development Fund, and other lending institutions to facilitate investment in the tourism sector.

The General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage in Hail seeks to encourage and attract investors in the tourism sector to invest in diverse tourism activities by providing various forms of support and consultation, and by creating the conditions necessary for a suitable investment environment, thereby achieving the goals of comprehensive development in all its aspects and creating an economic driver that supports development and the expected growth of the tourism sector in Hail in particular and in the Kingdom in general.

This workshop follows the Cabinet’s approval of the Ministry of Finance’s plan to provide loans to hotel and tourism projects, in amounts of up to 100 million riyals, in accordance with regulations it establishes—most notably that lending is limited to projects located in less-developed cities and governorates with distinctive tourist attractions, whose populations do not exceed one million according to the latest census.