Saudi tourism chiefs in confident mood at World Travel Market

Kingdom's expanding tourist sector will place it in the major leagues, challenging France and Spain

The Saudi Arabia stand. The kingdom has by far the biggest footprint at the World Travel Market in London. Matthew Davies / The National

The expansive footprint of the Saudi Arabia stand at the World Travel Market (WTM) is enough to convince the most hardened sceptic that the kingdom is taking its tourism sector very seriously.

Easily the largest stand at this year’s WTM in London, it gives a taster of what tour operators can offer their clients, as the country builds its ambitions to become one of the biggest tourist markets in the world.

Those ambitions seem well-placed at the moment. The WTM Global Travel Report, in association with Travel Economics, showed the Middle East is the only region of the world to have fully recovered from the Covid pandemic, with a 13 per cent increase in visitor numbers compared to 2019.

In value terms, the numbers are even more impressive, with the Middle East recording a 46 per cent increase in inbound tourist spending since 2019.

Much of the surge is being driven by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The WTM report notes “both countries are investing heavily in tourism infrastructure, viewing tourism development as a key strategy to diversify away from hydrocarbons reliance”.

Saudi Arabia is planning on its Neom project being a major tourist pull in the next 10 years.

Expected to be open for business before the end of the decade, Neom, in the kingdom’s north-west, is a sprawling area encompassing innovation hubs, high-tech tourist attractions, sustainable urban living environments and beachfront luxury with coral reefs and islands.

Niall Gibbons, managing director of tourism for Neom, predicts that the region’s initial tourists will come from Saudi Arabia itself, “because the whole Neom project has inspired a lot of interest in the market”.

“In relation to the international market research that we have done, you’re probably looking at about 60 per cent international travellers by 2030. The markets that are most likely to react first will be nearer-to-home markets like GCC,” he told The National.

In terms of the Red Sea coastal area of Neom, Sindalah Island will be the first opportunity for tourists to physically experience what’s being marketed as a high-end luxury destination.

“Every year we see around a billion and a half people travelling around the globe, so what Neom will have to do is win market share from other destinations,” Mr Gibbons said.

“Dubai will be a competitor to some extent but our research is indicating that visitors are looking for destinations that are new and unexplored – that’s an interesting thing that’s come out of Covid."

Saudi Arabia is ploughing resources into developing its Red Sea tourist areas, with three large luxury resorts already laying out the sunbeds and the first phase of an international airport expected to be completed by the end of the year.

AlUla Old Town in Saudi Arabia is recognised as one of the Best Tourism Villages by the UN. AlUla

Heritage sites

In addition to attracting tourists to modern resorts, hotels and experiences, the kingdom has made significant strides to develop its heritage and cultural sites.

Chief among these is Diriyah, a Unesco-listed site that offers tourists the opportunity to wander ancient streets, gleaning an understanding of Saudi culture and history.

There is also AlUla, billed as a “living museum” of “extraordinary human and natural heritage”, with dwellings and monuments that date back 200,000 years.

Sulaiman Aljuwayhil, destination marketing specialist at the Royal Commission for AlUla, told The National that its heritage, combined with luxury accommodation, allows visitors to disconnect from the “busy, modern life and reconnect with nature, heritage, culture and art”.

Sindalah Island in Saudi Arabia. Photo: Neom

‘New player on the tourism pitch’

Saudi Arabia’s 2030 plan aims to significantly increase the contribution the tourism sector makes to GDP with a goal of 100 million visitors by 2030, a number that would rival France.

If all the tourist infrastructure development is delivered, the capacity would be available. But the question is, once it’s built, will they come?

“Our positioning in the marketplace will be key,” Mr Gibbons told The National.

“Saudi Arabia is a new player on the tourism pitch. We’ve done a lot of research. All these projects have been well-thought through with really good business plans behind them and some of the best brains in the world in the context of design."

The confidence that the Saudi and wider GCC tourism market is set for unprecedented expansion is shared by tour operators and the hotel companies that have helped to build room capacities.

“Saudi Arabia is a big part of our plans and if you look at our development pipeline it’s probably our fourth biggest market globally in terms of new hotels coming in,” Simon Vincent, president of Europe, Middle East and Africa for the Hilton hotel group, told The National.

While Mr Vincent doesn’t think Saudi Arabia will be the “next Dubai”, mainly because of the emirate’s uniqueness, he does point out that there are “huge aspirations among a lot of the GCC countries to diversify away from oil, and leisure is a big part of that”.

“It’s no coincidence that a large proportion of my pipeline of new hotels is in the Middle East.”