Wizz Air to Invest $500 Million in Saudi Arabia to Boost Tourism
In a bold move to enhance connectivity and attract more tourists, low-cost carrier Wizz Air plans to invest over half a billion dollars in flight operations in Saudi Arabia, as revealed by the airline’s president, Robert Carey.
During an interview with Arab News at the Future Aviation Forum, Carey highlighted the significant impact on tourism, emphasizing that inbound visitors typically spend three to seven days in the country, contributing to the local economy through expenditures on services like hotels, car rentals, and food.
“We’ve invested over half $1 billion into our flying in the Kingdom so far. We’re going to keep growing that. I think we’ve got a lot to do. Just keep connecting the destinations we’ve already got, connect more of those points together,” Carey stated.
Wizz Air, the third-largest low-cost carrier in Europe and the fifth-largest airline e-commerce site globally, aims to bring more tourists to Saudi Arabia and enhance accessibility by connecting existing destinations and expanding further.
“We’re operating to seven different destinations from Saudi Arabia. We have four points here. You know, we’re seeing really great consumer response to this. Roughly two to one external like people coming into the Kingdom versus people leaving the Kingdom, on trips,” Carey explained.
He added: “But that’s giving a great benefit. We’ve got tourists coming in. We’re giving access to Saudi customers who have travel.”
Carey also praised the airline’s positive passenger experience, highlighting the clean, new planes, welcoming flight crew, and on-time scheduling.
Furthermore, Carey mentioned that Wizz Air is collaborating with the minister of tourism, the minister of transport, the General Authority of Civil Aviation, and the Saudi Tourism Authority on their connectivity program.
“If you look at the airline planning season, we’re just coming up on the period where everybody starts announcing what they’re going to do for this winter, so all I’ll say for right now is stay tuned. There’s more to come,” he teased.
Celebrating its 20th birthday this week, Wizz Air plans to launch a special promotion on May 21 to commemorate the milestone.
Carey hinted that the promotion will offer significant discounts on every flight, encouraging people to visit the website and take advantage of the upcoming offers.