1.79 m jobs: Tourism set to be biggest employer

The tourism sector will soon become the largest employer in the Kingdom, according to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA).

The sector will employ more than 1.79 million by 2020, says a SAMA report.

It said the tourism sector provided 670,000 jobs in 2011. This is 5.9 percent more than the figure of 633,000 recorded in 2010.

“We expect the sector would provide 841,000 direct jobs and 421,000 indirect jobs by 2015 and 1.2 million direct jobs and 591,000 indirect jobs by 2020,” the SAMA said.

The number of people work in the tourism sector accounted for 7.6 percent of the total workers of 8.8 million in 2011.

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