SAUDIA has launched a direct flight to connect Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Launched recently, SAUDIA’s direct flights to Tanzania is targeting tourism and trade between Tanzania and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This is expected to boost tourism and travel links, banking on the rich cultural, religious, historical heritage, and wildlife resources between the 2 countries.
The Tanzania Minister for Works and Transport, Professor Makame Mbarawa, welcomed the SAUDIA plane and said that the airline would boost the number of international travelers to Tanzania, mostly tourists and business travelers. Tanzania becomes 14th African destination in which SAUDIA airline operates direct flights, Prof. Mbarawa said.
Direct flights between Dar es Salaam and Jeddah will cut down the traveling time to about 4.4 hours from the previous 10 hours spent by travelers flying between Saudi Arabia and Tanzania through Addis Ababa and Doha.
Saudi Arabia’s rich heritage has been attracting travelers from Tanzania and the rest of Africa, mostly pilgrims to the Kingdom’s Holy Sites in Mecca and Medina. The country of Saudi Arabia has undergone a significant cultural transformation, targeting to attract more business travelers and tourists to visit the Kingdom’s rich heritages.
“The expansion of SAUDIA’s operations and the launch of new direct flights to Dar es Salaam strengthen the relations between the Kingdom and Tanzania.
“It will provide a seamless experience for Hajj and Umrah guests from Tanzania,” the SAUDIA Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Arved Nikolaus Von Zur Muhlen, said.
“In alignment with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 objective of increasing the number of visitors to Saudi Arabia, international expansion is vital to help achieve that goal,” he said. “The airline is continuously working to reach new destinations and improve guests’ experiences,” he added.
The inaugural flight was launched with a 180-seater Airbus A320 plane from Jeddah.
Tanzania becomes the 14th African country in which SAUDIA will be operating direct flights. The airline will operate 4 flights each week between Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) and King Abdulaziz International Airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays.
Building good relations in tourism, Saudi Arabia and Tanzania are looking at biodiversity conservation and wildlife protection as areas of cooperation. Rich in history and religious antiquities, Saudi Arabia is now borrowing a leaf from Tanzania’s wildlife resources for the Kingdom’s future biodiversity conservation and tourism while Saudi Arabia attracts pilgrims from Tanzania and Africa to visit the Kingdom’s preserved, religious, historical, and cultural heritage sites.
Muslim pilgrims from Tanzania visit Saudi Arabia every year during Hajj caravans in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) said earlier that inbound tourists to the Kingdom mostly make religious vacations. Tanzania and other Eastern African states are rated among African states sending their citizens to the Kingdom for Hajj pilgrimage every year.
Saudi Arabia is currently promoting tourism as its priority and key economic sector in combination with oil resources.
