Saudi Arabia has become a new tourism destination for Italians, confirmed the European country’s Tourism Minister, Daniela Santanche, adding that the two nations have intensified efforts to explore opportunities to increase direct flights between them.
While sharing the update with the Saudi-based business media outlet Al-Eqtisadiah, on the sidelines of her participation in the events of the TOURISE 2025 forum in Riyadh, Santanche said, “Saudi Arabia has made significant progress in diversifying its tourism offerings and improving its infrastructure, making it an attractive destination for international visitors.”
While emphasising that tourism exchange programmes between the two countries could enhance cultural ties and encourage visitor flows, the Italian Minister mentioned that the European country is working with the national carrier ITA Airways to explore opportunities to enhance direct air connectivity with Saudi Arabia to accommodate tourist flows in both directions.
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Italy are witnessing steady growth, with the trade volume between the two countries reaching 966 million euro (USD 1.11 billion) in the first half of 2025. Tourist flows are increasing as well, as more than 322,000 Saudi nationals visited Italy in 2024, a 65% increase year-on-year, spending more than half a billion euros.
“Participation in the forum provided an opportunity for leading Italian companies to showcase what they have, creating favourable conditions for mutual investment and further enhancing relations between the two countries. We are actively promoting cooperation between Italy and Saudi Arabia. The participation of Italian companies in the ‘TOURISE’ initiative is an important step in this direction,” Santanche noted.
“Many Italian tourism companies are currently operating in Saudi Arabia and are ready to cooperate with their Saudi counterparts to develop new opportunities,” Santanche continued, while confirming that facilitating the entry of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) citizens, led by Saudis, into European Union (EU) countries is an important factor for increasing current tourism flows.
In April 2024, the European Commission adopted a historic decision to grant GCC citizens five-year multiple-entry Schengen visas. Saudis currently account for 60% of the Schengen visas granted to the Gulf countries combined, amounting to 470,888 visas, as previously reported by the EU press office in the Belgian capital Brussels to Al-Eqtisadiah.