As part of its mission to attract 100 million tourists annually by 2030, Saudi Arabia continues to take measures, including easing of visa norms, with the launch of a new, instant visa.

Saudi Arabia has announced new instant e-visa options as it looks to attract tourists and visitors to the country. The country has been working towards an ambitious target of attracting over 100 million visitors each year by 2030. It has built infrastructure adding thousands of hotel rooms, developed tourist circuits all over the country and boosted tourism promotion around the world and simplified its visa process.

According to the latest measures, the new e-visa will facilitate UK, US, and Schengen visas holders, as well as permanent residents of UK, US, and any EU country to obtain tourist e-visas to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the government’s website.

The Kingdom has previously extended regulation to provide visas on arrival to the six categories and this is another step to make travelling to Saudi Arabia easier than ever for visitors.

According to latest data, since opening to tourism in 2019, the Kingdom has become one of the fastest-growing tourism markets globally, recording 93.5 million visits in 2022.

This achievement is a result of the tremendous efforts of destinations across the Kingdom in providing visitors with unparalleled experiences and a seamless travel journey.

The Saudi Tourism Authority says it is accelerating efforts to make it easier for visitors from across the world to travel to Saudi Arabia. Through digitisation, Saudi Arabia is increasing accessibility and connectivity, providing simplified entry routes to visitors, focused on enabling all travellers to enjoy the natural and cultural diversity in the country, it says.

The new instant e-visa is among several initiatives that the Kingdom has launched over the past year to improve the visitor experience. In 2022, the Tourism Authority launched the Nusuk platform in collaboration with the Pilgrim Experience Programme.

Nusuk, country’s first ever official integrated digital platform, provides pilgrims and visitors an easy-to-use planning gateway for their journeys to Makkah, Madinah, and beyond.

The Kingdom has previously extended regulation to provide visas on arrival to holders of UK, US and Schengen visa. It also offers visa on arrival to permanent residents of UK, US, and any EU country and e-visa eligibility was extended to residents of the GCC.

Earlier this year, KSA also announced the launch of a new Stopover Visa. Available free-of-charge to passengers travelling on national carrier Saudia and flynas, the visa is open to an even greater number of countries than the historic tourism e-visa and will allow visitors to stay in the country for up to 96 hours.