Saudi Arabia offers free four-day transit visa

By Hoang Phong February 1, 2023 | 12:09 am PT

Tourists visit the cultural village of Rijal Almaa in Saudi Arabia, July 17, 2020. Photo by Reuters

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched a new transit visa allowing stopover air passengers to stay in the kingdom for up to four days for tourism and pilgrimage purposes.

The new visa, which is only for passengers flying with Saudia Airlines and Flynas Airlines, came into effect on Monday as the kingdom sought to attract more tourists post pandemic, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Visitors can apply for the visa through the Saudia Airlines and Flynas websites and the transit visa will be issued with the air tickets.

The kingdom aims to attract investment worth 220 billion Saudi riyals ($53.3 billion) in the tourism sector by 2023, and 500 billion Saudi riyals by 2030, according to the Ministry of Tourism.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia topped the G20 countries in the number of international tourist arrivals, according to the World Tourism Organization.