The move comes within the framework of the government’s endeavour to increase the number of tourists, especially after opening several new tourist destinations, and raising its tourism target to 150 million visits annually by 2030.
Team Clarion
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has launched a unified visa platform called ‘KSA Visa’ to facilitate visa application procedures. This is part of the government’s endeavour to attract more tourists over the coming years.
Addressing the Digital Government Forum (DGF) here on Tuesday, Assistant Minister for Executive Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdulhadi Almansouri said that the platform is linked to more than 30 agencies, ministries, and the private sector, to facilitate procedures for obtaining various types of visas, including the Haj visa or the visit visa for the purpose of Umrah or tourism as well as work visas, a Saudi Gazette report said.
GOV.SA platform will contribute to empower more than 50 government agencies and private sectors through government visas and will automate the most important visa issuance procedures to improve the visitor experience.
GOV.SA is a smart search engine that lets visitors know the available visas quickly. It is a unified reference for understanding the requirements for all types of visas and the ways to apply for them. The platform also includes an updated personal file for the visitor that facilitates visas and re-application for them later, the report said.
The Saudi move comes within the framework of its endeavour to increase the number of tourists, especially after opening several new tourist destinations, and raising its tourism target to 150 million visits annually by 2030.
The launch of the new Saudi platform coincides with the efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for a unified Gulf tourist visa, approved by the Supreme Council of the GCC countries at last month’s Doha Summit. The summit authorised interior ministers of the Gulf countries to take necessary measures to implement the new visa rules.
Saudi Arabia issued more than 18.6 million visas during the year 2023, and it reduced the duration for issuing digital visas to 60 seconds. The Kingdom also worked with 56 countries with regard to the visa digitisation journey.
According to the targets envisaged in the general budget of 2024, Saudi Arabia seeks to increase the volume of tourism spending to SR289 billion, as well as to achieve 88 million visitors, and more employment in the tourism sector.
