The deepening partnership between Saudi Arabia and China holds increasing significance for both nations, as Saudi Arabia pursues its Vision 2030 and China advances its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The kingdom’s shift towards the East and China’s growing involvement in its economy exemplify the strengthening bilateral relations.

The alignment between Vision 2030 and the BRI presents opportunities for enhanced collaboration and connectivity in the future. Saudi Arabia’s ambitious economic diversification plan, unveiled in 2016, and China’s status as the leading source of global tourists in 2019, with 155 million outbound trips and significant spending, highlight the potential synergies.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a decline in tourism numbers for 2020 and 2021, with 20 million and 26 million tourists respectively, the Saudi government aims to achieve an annual tourism revenue of $46 billion by the end of the decade. The kingdom can leverage the growth potential by attracting more Chinese tourists to Saudi Arabia, especially considering China’s strong outbound tourism market.

In 2019, just before the pandemic’s impact, Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector reached its highest-ever receipts of $19.85 billion, emphasising the importance of tourism in achieving economic goals.