Tourism & Hospitality | Saturday 4 April, 2015 8:43 am |

New tourism regulations aimed at eliminating price manipulation in the tourism sector will take effect at the beginning of next Ramadan, confirmed Mohammed Al-Humaidi, a regulatory consultant with the Bureau of Experts (BoE) at the Council of Ministers.
The regulations include a fine of SR10,000 against hotels or facilities found manipulating the prices of services.
The new regulations were announced during the 2015 Travel and Tourism Investment Market Forum in front of a number of government and tourism sector officials, investors, entrepreneurs, and owners and managers of hotels and other tourism facilities.

Aside from the SR10,000 fine, the regulations stipulate cancellation of licenses. A fine of up to SR50,000 applies to establishments that violate requirements related to the issuance of certificates of classification, or which prevent inspectors from carrying out their tasks.
The maximum fine may be doubled in cases of repeat offense, said Mohammed Al-Bajad, deputy director of the College of Criminal Justice at Naif Arab University for Security Sciences.
According to Ahmed Eissa, deputy vice president of licensing at the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), the new tourism regulations aim to standardize the activities of all companies and parties involved in the sector, as is the case with other important sectors in the Kingdom.
He said the SCTA worked in partnership with government and private stakeholders and authorities to carefully develop a system that will preserve the rights of consumers and suppliers alike.

Faisal Al-Fadil, head of the legal department at the SCTA, said the regulations will help boost investment and promote the development of tourism in the Kingdom, noting that the goal of monitoring under the regulations is to ensure all activities take place in accordance with industry regulations and succeed in improving the quality of services provided in the field.

“Those involved in this monitoring process are employees of the SCTA, as per their specified roles, and they will submit their reports to a committee to issue a decision of punishment against any violators of the regulations,” he said. Such decisions can be later appealed at the Administrative Court of the Office of the Ombudsman.
The system specifically helps to attract investors to the area by regulating and organizing the market to induce maximum efficiency, said Ayed Al-Otaibi, general manager of the department of regulatory and procedural development at the General Authority for Investment.