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RIYADH: The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) launched car-renting services in five tourist cities in the Kingdom based on the region’s leading app Careem.
Plans are afoot to expand and collaborate with other transportation companies, said SCTH Vice President for Regional Affairs Dr. Walid Al-Hamidi.
During a press conference held on Thursday at the commission’s headquarters in Riyadh, Al-Hamidi said that this initiative was taken because the commission realized that tourists could not find service cars in these tourist areas, a service that will help boost tourism in the targeted cities.
Al-Hamidi added that the commission, under the supervision of its president, Prince Sultan Bin Salman, works with its partners in the region to make the experience in the tourism sector seamless.
It works to come up with activities, services and projects that attract more tourists and increase visits to these areas; transportation is one such major service, he said.
Over the past few years, he said, SCTH was successful in implementing its tourism projects; and the regional departments achieved important partnerships in response to the directives of the SCTH president.
Al-Hamidi added that the commission will support rehabilitation of tourist sites, capacity building and training of drivers in the regions where Careem operates, such as Abha, Tabus, Jazan, Baha and Ta’if.
He stressed the commission’s keenness on hiring Saudis in the Careem program in these cities and expressed hope that Careem will hire many Saudis and enable them to reach high levels of professional tourism services.
Dr. Abdullah Elyas, co-founder and managing director of Careem, praised the partnership with the commission, which, he said, aims to empower workers in the tourism sector in a professional manner and make ��������Ƶ a tourist attraction.
The partnership concords with ��������Ƶ’s Vision 2030 and that his company takes pride in launching its services in the Kingdom, Dr. Elyas said.
“Careem is expanding. We’ve built a strong brand and customer base since our launch because we’ve always kept the Saudi users’ best interests at heart, paying attention to their needs,” he said, adding that the company recently started working in Hail and is still expanding.