Tabuk, May 13, 2024, The Quality of Life Program continues its efforts to achieve its targets and initiatives, collaborating with various executive authorities, surpassing some of the targets of 2030 ahead of schedule. This raises the ambition to higher goals, as the Saudi Vision 2030 seeks to establish a lasting impact that drives more developments and benefits for the nation, providing greater opportunities for citizens.
Over the past years, the Kingdom has witnessed a qualitative and unprecedented leap in various sectors, including culture and media, achieving economic impact in the tourism sector. This includes support and empowerment of direct and indirect investments, projects, and qualification and training programs that benefited thousands of youth. The beginning was marked by the establishment of 11 specialized cultural commissions aimed at developing the cultural sector in the Kingdom. Through partnerships with the Ministry of Culture and its affiliated bodies, the program sought to achieve two strategic objectives of the vision: preserving the Islamic, Arab, and national heritage of the Kingdom and promoting it, and enhancing Saudi contribution to culture and arts.
Regarding human capital, there were over 30 programs for qualification, training, and scholarships in various cultural disciplines, contributing to providing thousands of jobs in this promising sector. The program empowered investment by launching the Cultural Development Fund with allocations of up to SAR181 million to stimulate cultural projects, along with other programs such as launching a culinary arts incubator and supporting cinema projects for film production. The program also targeted infrastructure by developing and rehabilitating over 100 heritage sites within the cultural infrastructure, including the rehabilitation of three museums and listing seven sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the latest being the cultural Hima area in Najran.
In the media sector, the program launched initiatives related to quality of life sectors, including those implemented by the Ministry of Media related to the national campaign to combat drugs, a part of community awareness campaigns against the spread of drugs. The Ministry of Media implemented these campaigns to achieve the strategic goal of enhancing community resilience against drugs, one of the strategic objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 entrusted to the Quality of Life Program. Additionally, there were several media-related indicators, including the number of available media outlets such as television, radio, and newspapers. The program registered 165 media outlets, exceeding the target of 150. The number of local publications reached 5,668 books, 196% higher than the target for 2023. The program achieved significant economic impact in the targeted sectors, particularly in the tourism sector, which created 925,460 jobs in 2023, a result of achievements in various program initiatives implemented by the Ministry of Tourism and its affiliated bodies, whether in support and empowerment of direct and indirect investments, launching projects, or qualification and training programs benefiting thousands of youth.
Regarding the relative advantages characterizing the regions of the Kingdom, including the Tabuk region, the Quality of Life Program and the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 noted the abundance of historical and tourist sites, in addition to major projects such as NEOM, the Red Sea, and Amala, which will enhance economic activity and stimulate various quality of life sectors such as tourism, entertainment, culture, and sports.
This is undoubtedly a promising area for many projects, activities, and events, including tourism projects that will be based there, benefitting from lending support for new tourism projects, one of the program’s initiatives. Many initiatives are allocated to the region, such as urban design, with an integrated regional plan prepared for the Tabuk region, including humanizing cities in various parts, public parks, walking paths, and increasing the proportion of public spaces. This is part of the program initiatives implemented by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing to improve the urban landscape and services in cities, achieving the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 assigned to the program. Regarding sports, the King Khalid Sports City was developed to host sporting events, with the National Cricket Championship held in Tabuk region as part of the program’s initiatives.
On the cultural side, the craft center at the Tabuk Regional Museum was operated and developed as part of the program’s efforts to raise the quality of life for everyone in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.