Saudi Arabia relaxes tourist visa fees
The no change in visa rates for Pakistani citizens confirms that they will still have to pay 0.1 million to rupees 0.4 million for attaining the tourist visa. Reports say that the Pakistan embassy in Saudi and the Pakistan’s foreign office wasn’t aware of this policy and are yet to respond on this. The double pricing in visa policy of Saudi has come under discussion and has even put Pakistan under scanner.
The reduction in the visa fee was initially denied by Saudi Gazette, the leading English-language daily newspaper published in Jeddah. However, they gave credibility to the news as the hard copy is still available on its Facebook page even after they had taken down the link for the said story from its digital version. As a part to promote tourism in the Kingdom in a humongous way, the government of Saudi Arabia had decided to promote Hajj, Umrah, business and cultural activities from last year. The government has also decided on making more visiting places throughout the Kingdom for boosting the tourism industry.
The government of Saudi Arabia plans to spend around 35 billion pounds on the tourism sector till 2020. It is expected that almost 30 million tourists would be paying a visit to the Kingdom by 2030.