RIYADH — The Ministry of Tourism has made preparations to receive the Saudi returnees from abroad in line with the mechanisms announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It hosted them during the quarantine period decided by the Ministry of Health, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted the Minister of Tourism Ahmed Bin Aqeel Al-Khatib as saying.

In this connection, Al-Khatib said that till now accommodation facilities having 11,000 rooms have been readied in different regions of the Kingdom.

Al-Khatib said that the ministry has also secured additional accommodation facilities, and ensured they were ready to be handed over to the Ministry of Health when needed.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Education Dr. Hamad Al-Asheikh said that launching the “Hudhn” e-service for citizens abroad wishing to return to the homeland reflects the concern of the prudent leadership for its sons and to provide all the capabilities, potentials and means to guarantee their safety, check on their health and facilitate the return of those wishing to return to the Kingdom.

He pointed out that the Ministry of Education is following up the daily situation of Saudi scholarship students via 31 cultural attaché’s offices in different countries of the world to serve 79,113 scholarship students accompanied by 45,115 family members, bringing the total to 124,228 scholarship students with their dependents.

The minister said that the situation of scholarship students is reassuring, thanks to Allah. He said that they have the awareness and national responsibility under these difficult circumstances due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He said that the state appreciates the wish of some of them to return to the Kingdom and it is preparing all the means for that via a unified electronic platform having specific procedures and directives (instructions), to guarantee their safe arrival in the homeland.

In the same connection, the Chairman of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) Abdulhadi Al-Mansouri has confirmed the preparation of the passenger terminals in the Kingdom’s international airports.

These include King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.

GACA is also working on scheduling the flights allocated for the plan to bring back the citizens wishing to return to the Kingdom, in cooperation and coordination with the national air carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines, in addition to continuous coordination with the airports of other countries.