SAUDI ARABIA SMILES

DUBAI : Saudi Arabia plans tourist visas from next year. And official says online technology to be used for making application process easier.

Saudi Arabia aims to start issuing tourist visas to foreigners next year, a senior Saudi official told CNN, as the government seeks to open up the kingdom and find new sources of revenue to diversify its economy.

At present, the foreigners travelling to Saudi Arabia are largely restricted to resident workers and their dependents, business travelers, and Muslim pilgrims who are given special visas to travel to holy sites.

''The targets are people who want to come and literally experience this country, and really the grandness of this country,'' Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, head of the  Saudi Commission for Tourism and Natural Heritage, said in an interview broadcast late on Wednesday.

Asked about plans for the visas, he replied : ''Hopefully in 2018.'' adding that the government would use online technology to make applying for visas easy.

Saudi Arabia 32-year-old heir to the throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. is seeking to develop new industries to wean his country off its dependency on oil exports.

He has also taken some steps to loosen its ultra-strict social restrictions, scaling back the role of  religious morality police and announcing plans to allowing women to drive next year.

Plans to admit significant numbers of tourists from abroad have been discussed for years, not only to be blocked by conservative opinion and bureaucracy-

The commission announced such a plan as long ago as 2006, but it did not go ahead.

This time, the government appears determined to push through the change, partly because of financial pressures, it hopes to earn billion of dollars to cover a state budget deficit caused by low oil prices.

Economic reforms aim to lift total tourism spending in the country -by local citizens as well as foreigners to $46.6 billion in 2020 from $27.9 billion in 2015.

Prince Sultan said his commission was focusing mainly on increasing numbers of local tourists.

The commission has estimated that Saudis spend more than $20 billion annually on tourism abroad, and persuading more of them to holiday inside the country would reduce that drain on the economy.

But Prince Sultan said CNN that his commission was also working to prepare tourist spots for foreigners.