Business & Finance Club - Riyadh: The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) plans to establish a fund to finance tourist projects within its strategy to attract $50 billion investments, its chairman Prince Sultan Bin Salman said recently.

He said in exclusive statements that the tourist projects will focus on family tourism, medical treatment, shopping and sports tourism to keep pace with the current world trend.

The economic returns of tourism can be very huge and can provide work opportunities which cannot be matched by other sectors," he said. He hoped that the concerned authorities would expedite the decisions that would open the door for investments in the Kingdom's huge tourist potentials.

Prince Sultan said about 1.14 million people were either directly or indirectly employed in the sector of tourism during the year 2009. He said the rate of Saudisation of jobs in the sector has gone up from 10 per cent to 26 per cent in the year 1430H (2009).

The prince described Saudi Arabia as a first class tourist country and said once the tourist sector is given the same attention as other economic sectors, the Kingdom will be the most important tourist destination in the region and will excel in luring the citizens which are the main target.

He said the STCA is working with its partners in the public and private sectors to serve the local tourist and vowed that the tourist sector is an integrated economic project to develop national economy.

Sultan said many other activities are tied up to tourism and added that the turnover of the services and industries is influenced by it. "Tourism can generate more job opportunities than any other sector," he said.

The Prince said King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz is leading a great leap in the domain of dialogue between civilisations and openness.

The chairman indicated that there was a big jump in the sector of antiquities and museums in the Kingdom specially in the area of explorations and excavations made by scientific teams from international universities and Saudi researchers.

Sultan said the SCTA has started the establishment of five new museums in Dammam, Abha, Hail, Tabuk and Al Baha.

"The commission is also finalising studies to rehabilitate and devlop six museums in Dawmat Al Jandl, Tima, Al Ola, Al Hafouf, Sabia and Najran within a plan to make museums park of the general culture of the public.

He reiterated that the government is looking at tourism as a viable economic project that can attract investments and provide more job opportunities and said it is qualifying national cadres.