Saudi Arabia aims at 25% of leisure travellers from India by 2030

Saudi Arabia expects to attract over 7.5 million Indian visitors by 2030 under its ambitious ‘Vision 2030’ program, as it sets its eyes on not just religious but also on leisure travellers.

 

It’s a substantial three-fold jump from last year’s number.

 

The West Asian country’s global vision is to attract 150 million tourists annually, generating 10 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

 

But, this time around, there is also a big and discernible difference in their strategy-- sure Indians would continue to go to the country for religious purposes and work. Saudi Arabia is now focusing on wooing the well-heeled leisure travellers.

 

“There is a strong desire to increase tourism from India to account for 25 per cent to 30 per cent through leisure trips which is around 2 million. There is a significant opportunity as a result to increase flight frequencies and capacity to and from India,” said former advisor to the DG of Saudi Airlines and also ex IndiGo top executive.

 

And it’s already happening.

 

Currently, direct flights to Saudi Arabia operate from numerous cities which include Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai. Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Cochin and Kozhikode.

 

But according to studies undertaken by airlines, new markets like Kolkata, Chennai, Kanpur, Ahmedabad and Jaipur have been identified as potential new spots.

 

Top airlines, including Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, SpiceJet and even Akasa, have put in flights to the country. But with Indian operators putting in 236 flights weekly to four cities in Saudi Arabia which include Jeddah, Riyadh, Medina and Damman, they are pretty close to filling up the seats under the bilateral agreement between the two countries.

 

In 2019 India had selectively increased the bilateral seats to 28,000 a week. However, India-Dammam has been kept out of the bilateral and there are no restrictions in the number of flights.

 

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia with 62 flights a week and low-cost carriers with 34 flights a week fly between the two countries have a lot of scope to expand capacity.

 

But new players like Riyadh Airline, who were in India just in March this year, are looking for tie-ups to launch services in the country, and airlines executives say it could happen by the end of the year.

 

Under the bilateral air agreement, say experts, India and Saudi Arabia can ask for an additional capacity of 20 per cent if it has already used up 80 per cent of its capacity under the bilateral agreement.

 

Of course, analysts say that to woo the leisure tourists, there will be a requirement for more wide bodied aircraft (at the moment only Air India and Saudi have business and first class flights) and the market is dominated by LCCs.

 

Also, experts point out that Saudi Arabia’s leisure packages are very steep which might cut out many middle class tourists. It is nearly double of similar resorts in south east Asia.