Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Expo 2030 to create 250,000 jobs, Saudi minister says

By Pramod Kumar
A fireworks display and light show celebrates Saudi Arabia's successful bid to host Expo 2030 in Riyadh Reuters/Ahmed Yosri
A fireworks display and light show celebrates Saudi Arabia's successful bid to host Expo 2030 in Riyadh

Saudi Arabia will generate 250,000 jobs during its hosting of Expo 2030 in Riyadh, tourism minister Ahmed Al Khateeb said.

The kingdom will add 1,000 hotel rooms for the mega event, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported, citing the minister’s speech at the Global Labor Market Conference in Riyadh.

Riyadh beat off bids from Busan in South Korea and Rome in Italy.

Last month, 119 countries endorsed Riyadh’s candidacy during the 173rd general assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions held in Paris.

The World Expo 2030 will be held under the theme “The Era of Change: Together for a Foresighted Tomorrow”, between October 1, 2030, and March 31, 2031.

The kingdom unveiled its national tourism strategy in 2019, which will take the gross domestic product in this sector from three percent to 10 percent in 2030 and create one million additional jobs.

Al Khateeb stated that the travel and tourism sector represented 10 percent of the global labour market and provided 330 million jobs in 2019 before the pandemic.

However, airlines and hotels were the most affected sectors globally, losing 60 million jobs.

“We are back in the pre-pandemic according to figures by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, and the World Travel and Tourism Council, which is good,” he stated.

Latest articles

Investor Tim Draper told AGBI the US must 'swing back to freedom' to avoid losing innovation to countries such as the UAE

Tim Draper: UAE benefits from US crypto ‘overregulation’

Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper has criticised the US for its restrictive stance on cryptocurrency, claiming it is driving innovators towards more encouraging and friendlier markets such as the UAE. The Gulf state is actively developing regulatory frameworks to lure new forms of business, amid intense regional economic competition. Dubai and Abu Dhabi have set […]

A subsidiary of Banque Misr will open the first digital-only bank in Egypt this year

Egypt to open first digital bank later this year

Misr Digital Innovation will open Egypt’s first digital bank towards the end of the year, as it looks to appeal to the North African’s country’s younger and unbanked demographic. MTI, a subsidiary of Banque Misr, is the first bank to have received approval to establish a digital bank by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) […]

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries which will receive the investment from AIDA and US-based KKR

Abu Dhabi’s ADIA invests in Indian warehouses

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and the US-based private equity firm KKR have invested INR 12,000 crore ($1.5 billion) in India’s Reliance Retail Ventures’ warehousing assets.  Both companies have invested equal amounts in Reliance Logistics and Warehouse Holdings (RLWH), The Economic Times, an Indian financial daily, reported, citing informed sources.  RLWH was established in […]

Saudi Arabia’s industry and mineral resources minister Bandar Al-Khorayef. The country is struggling to meet an FDI target of $100bn a year by 2030

Saudi industry minister tempts investors with funding incentives

Saudi Arabia’s ministry of investments and mineral resources is prepared to finance up to 75 percent of industrial projects in the country, as the kingdom tries to boost its low foreign direct investment (FDI) numbers.  Bandar Al-Khorayef, the minister of industry and mineral resourcespointed to well-developed infrastructure across 36 industrial cities, prefabricated factories ready to […]