Saudi Arabia calls for creating global tourism innovation index

RIYADH, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia called on Wednesday for collaboration among like-minded leading tourism organizations worldwide to create a new Tourism Innovation Index (TII).

The Saudi call came during the 22nd World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit being held in the kingdom.

The index aims to enable a sustainable, competent and innovative global tourism landscape, and the Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) is collaborating with a travel industry news site Skift to establish a framework for the potential index.

In the future, the TII could provide thousands of national and international organizations with data that will help drive elevated sector services and inform policy reforms to boost and enable country-level innovation.

Meanwhile, Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb told Xinhua that the summit witnessed the signing of 50 investment agreements worth more than 10 billion U.S. dollars.

As for Saudi-Chinese cooperation, he said the Chinese market is a key one for Saudi Arabia, and the tourism cooperation is crucial for building bridges between the two countries.

The WTTC Summit in Riyadh, which runs from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, is hosting nearly 3,000 delegates from about 140 countries and regions to share insights, expertise and best practices.