Saudi Arabia announces new instant...

Move will help facilitate country’s vision of reaching 100 million visitors a year

Saudi Arabia has unveiled new options to help UK, US and Schengen visas holders, as well as permanent residents of UK, US, and any EU country, to obtain tourist e-visas online.

Part of the kingdom’s vision of reaching 100 million visits annually by 2030, it is the latest update to the country’s rapidly unrolling tourism strategy. Since opening to tourism in 2019, Saudi has become one of the fastest-growing tourism markets globally, recording 93.5 million visits in 2022.

One of the ways the Saudi Tourism Authority is accelerating efforts to make it easier for visitors from across the world to travel to Saudi is through digitisation.

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In 2022, Saudi Tourism Authority launched the Nusuk platform in collaboration with the Pilgrim Experience Programme. Nusuk, Saudi’s first official integrated digital platform, provides pilgrims and visitors a planning gateway for their journeys to Makkah, Madinah and beyond.

Saudi has previously extended regulation to provide visas on arrival to holders of valid US, UK, and Schengen visas as well as permanent residents of the UK, US and any EU country, while e-visa eligibility was extended to residents of the GCC.

Earlier this year, Saudi also announced the launch of a new Stopover Visa. Free-of-charge and available to passengers travelling on Saudia and Flynas, the visa is open to a greater number of countries than the established tourism e-visa and will allow visitors to stay in the country for up to 96 hours.

For more information, visit visitsaudi.com/en/travel-regulations