Mid-semester school break attracted 2 million tourists

The midterm school break drew a good number of tourists to domestic tourist spots.
According to the Tourism Information and Research Center (MAS), the statistical arm of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH), tourist sites across the Kingdom drew over 2 million tourists during the first mid-semester school break this year.
According to MAS, tourist spendings rose to SR1.9 billion, with a growth rate of 14 percent against the same period last year.
The average expenditure per person per trip was SR987, with a growth rate of 28 percent when compared to the same period in 2015.
The MAS report said the rate of expenditures of inbound tourists, whose number was estimated at 283,000, dropped 46 percent, reaching SR1.2 billion when compared to the same period in 2015.
The report also indicated that the overall average room occupancy at hotels in the Kingdom during November, which corresponds with the mid-semester break, reached 67.3 percent.
Makkah ranked first with a 79.3 percent occupancy, with the average price of a room at SR373, followed by Riyadh at 78.3 percent, with average room price of SR425 and the Eastern Province at 77.1 percent, with an average room price of SR334.
Tourism activity indicators show that during the mid-semester break, the overall average occupancy of furnished housing units was 62.7 percent. The Eastern Province came first with 79.3 percent.