Saudi Arabia is rapidly changing its socio-economic structure. Amid the renewed global thrust on green energy, the oil rich country has started to consciously reduce its dependence on energy-based resources alone to boost its economic growth.

According to a Bloomberg report, the country, which put an end to its decades-long ban on cinemas only in 2018 has now firmed up plans to invest $64 billion in its nascent entertainment industry as part of a broader effort to wean the economy off oil and transform itself into the Middle East’s premier movie hub.

“It’s a remarkable turnaround for Saudi Arabia, where only a few years ago women were prohibited from driving, restaurants were gender-segregated and most forms of entertainment, from music concerts to film screenings were banned as un-Islamic,” the report said.

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Not just that. Those engaged with the travel and hospitality sector told India Narrative that the Middle East nation is also actively wooing tourists.

While the country has always attracted thousands of tourists especially Muslims across the world for the Hajj pilgrimage, it is now looking at making it attractive for all sections.

Al Jazeera said that Riyadh now has plans to tap a tourist market beyond religious pilgrims, as part of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s (MBS) Vision 2030 blueprint to evolve the economy beyond oil revenues.

Just before the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic, Riyadh had started issuing tourist e-visas even to non-Muslim visitors. But due to the pandemic, plans had to be shelved.

In 2016, Saudi Arabia surprised the world by unfolding its Vision 2030, aimed at restructuring its economy by reducing the over-dependence on oil. The world is already increasing focus on shifting away from fossil fuels. “This shift will naturally affect Saudi Arabia but at the same time with proper planning it can steer its economy through other channels of growth which also includes minerals and green energy,” an analyst told India Narrative.