Within the new bundle of cultural indicators 
GaStat: 5,382 photographers work in 2,415 photography studios in Saudi Arabia

On Sunday, 12 Rabī‘ al-awwal 1438 corresponding to December 11, 2016, GaStat issued its indicator about the number of photography studios and its workers from 2011 to 2015 in all administrative regions of the Kingdom which has reached 2415 studios with 5382 photographer and workers.
The indicator issued by GaStat showed that Makkah region is in the lead by number of photography studios and its workers for the last five years. The number of studios in Makkah region has reached more than 802 in 2015, while Riyadh region is the second largest area after Makkah in the number of operators and photography studios which has reached more than 640 studios with more than 1400 worker in 2015.
GaStat's spokesman Taiseer Almofarrej explained that the photography indicator is considered one of the most important cultural indicators, and it measures the changes in number of shops that photograph people, number of photographers, and number of workers annually. The indicator reflects the development in photography activity in different regions of the Kingdom.
Almofarrej stressed that GaStat was keen to launch its indicator today to cope with the events of "colors of Saudi Arabia forum" to shed light on this activity. He also added that after the launch of any indicator, GaStat begin its assessment in order to develop the indicator with the collaboration of relevant entities. One of these indicators is the photography as one of the most important cultural indicators, in addition to the fact that photography field is one of the attractive fields to work in especially with the development of photography tools and the increasing demand on photographers, and the impact of images on media, art and culture particularly with the spread of social media. Knowing that the indicator does not include amateur photographers or who works independently as the indicator relies on record data from relevant entities.