Zainab Mansoor

5 days ago | salaamgateway.com | Zainab Mansoor

Saudi Arabia welcomed 29.7 million inbound visitors in 2024, its highest ever and up 8% year-on-year, as the country continues to bolster its tourism sector as a key pillar to diversify its economy. Inbound tourists peaked in March last year, with 3.2 million people having visited the kingdom.

1 week ago | salaamgateway.com | Zainab Mansoor

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has launched a new company to build and operate the Expo 2030 Riyadh, the kingdom’s first World Expo. The Expo 2030 Riyadh Company has been tasked to develop the Expo as a model for sustainable tourism, and preserve the event’s legacy, the fund said in a statement on Thursday. The Expo, located to the north of the capital city, is projected to attract more than 40 million visits.

1 week ago | salaamgateway.com | Zainab Mansoor

The conflict between Iran and Israel could add a geopolitical risk premium of $5-$10 to oil prices, as the Middle East region’s security risk rises, global rating agency Fitch has said. “We expect the geopolitical risk premium in oil prices to be contained at around $5-$10. Material disruption to Iran’s production or export infrastructure would add more upward pressure to prices,” Fitch adds. Iran produced about 3.26 million barrels a day of crude oil in 2024, according to OPEC.

2 weeks ago | salaamgateway.com | Zainab Mansoor

Muslims were the fastest-growing religious group between the years 2010 and 2020, outpacing all other religions combined, a study has revealed.   The number of Muslims increased by 347 million, while their share of the world’s population rose 1.8 points, to 25.6%, according to a Pew Research Center report.

2 weeks ago | salaamgateway.com | Zainab Mansoor

Saudi Arabia’s economy grew more than expected in the first quarter of 2025, on non-oil and government activities, beating earlier government estimates. The kingdom’s first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3.4% year-on-year, beating flash estimates of 2.7% suggested by the country’s General Authority for Statistics in May. The growth was driven in part non-oil activities, which rose 4.9%, beating earlier estimates of 4.2%.