Saudi Arabia received 19 million foreign visitors in 2014, half of them were for Hajj and Umrah. This was announced by Hamad Al-Sheikh, vice president of marketing and programs at the General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage, at the World Travel Market London this week.

About 750,000 people are employed in the tourism industry in the Kingdom, a figure that is expected to reach 1.7 million by 2020. Tourism contributes over $21 billion to the economy (2.7 percent of the total GDP), excluding Hajj and Umrah pilgrims.