By Abdurahman Al-Misbahi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The total electronic payment on entertainment, hotel and cultural sectors reached SR53.56 million on a daily basis during the year 2019. The average daily payment of these sectors, for the first time, crossed the SR50 million mark, according to a statistical report published by government sources.

The total electronic payments to these sectors jumped significantly during the year 2019, in a sign of the recovery of recreational and tourism activities. Total payments during the past year reached about SR19.55 billion, an increase of 8.57 percent equivalent to SR1.54 billion, bringing the total average to SR53.56 million per day.

These sectors accounted for 6.85 percent of the total financial payments through electronic services, the value of which for all sectors accounted for SR285.32 billion.

The report also showed that the expenses of entertainment, culture and hotels exceeded the expenses of each of the jewelry, building materials, furniture, electronic or electrical appliances, telecommunications, education, or public utilities sectors.

The latest figures showed the high demand for the tourism sector during the past year, coinciding with the launch of many entertainment seasons, in addition to facilitating the granting of visas to the citizens of 49 countries via the Internet, or upon their arrival at the airport, in addition to the rest of the countries if they have valid visas for the “Schengen countries, United States and Britain.

Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) and the General Entertainment Authority (GEA) launched several tourism and entertainment seasons last year, the most prominent of which were the National Day, Al-Diriyah, Taif, Jeddah, Al-Souda, Eid, and Ramadan seasons, in addition to activities that started last year and continued until the year 2020, represented by seasons of Hail, AlUla and Riyadh.