Saudi Arabia has emphasized the important role of the travel and tourism sector as a key driver of economic growth and cultural exchange.
At the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2025, the Saudi Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Al-Khateeb, stressed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to advancing sustainable tourism growth and promoting international cooperation, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Driving Economic Transformation
During his participation at the WEF Annual Meeting 2025, held in Davos, Switzerland, the Saudi Tourism Minister highlighted the significance of the travel and tourism sector in leading economic transformation. “The travel and tourism sector is a cornerstone of global economies. It is essential that we recognize its importance in our sessions at Davos during the WEF Annual Meeting 2025,” he said.
Al-Khateeb also pointed to the huge potential of tourism in advancing global economic transformation through sustainability, innovation, and collaboration, underscoring the Kingdom’s commitment to promoting sustainable tourism growth and fostering international cooperation.
HE @AhmedAlKhateeb will participate in insightful sessions at #WEF25 to highlight the vital role of tourism in driving inclusive, sustainable growth. HE will also showcase Saudi Arabia’s efforts in harnessing tourism’s transformative power to create lasting economic and social… pic.twitter.com/TON6GJZr31
— وزارة السياحة (@Saudi_MT) January 20, 2025
The Saudi Minister highlighted the 2023 Economic Impact Report (EIR), published by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). It showed that the global travel and tourism sector contributed 9.1% to global GDP, marking a 23.2% growth from the previous year.
In Saudi Arabia, tourism contributes 5% to the Kingdom’s GDP, with projections to double to 10% by 2030, according to Asharq Al-Awsat. Strategic investments in flagship projects are driving this growth. These projects include the Red Sea Project, Diriyah, and Qiddiya, as well as several private sector initiatives that bolster the Saudi tourism sector.
Exploring Future Trends
The WEF, in collaboration with the Saudi Tourism Ministry, launched a briefing paper titled “The Future of Travel and Tourism: Embracing Sustainable and Inclusive Growth.” The paper provides insights on transformative trends, destination readiness, and the significance of cross-sector cooperation.
Furthermore, Saudi Arabia released an investor whitepaper outlining the ongoing transformation in the tourism sector under Vision 2030 initiatives. These initiatives include enhancing tourism infrastructure, attracting international visitors, and offering exceptional cultural experiences.
In the light of this, the Kingdom has established its position as one of the fastest-growing tourism destinations in the world, reaching the target of attracting 100 million visitors by 2030 seven years ahead of schedule and setting a new target of attracting 150 million.
Embracing Sustainability
Speaking ahead of the release of the WEF papers, Al-Khateeb highlighted the importance of embracing a sustainable agenda in the tourism sector to continue its growth without harming the surrounding environments and the communities living within them, according to Arab News.
The Saudi Minister added that the Kingdom has fostered cooperation with leading global organizations, such as the WEF, UN Tourism, and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), to achieve this goal.
Moreover, Al-Khateeb highlighted Saudi Arabia’s approach towards sustainability. He noted that the Kingdom is focusing on 3 key perspectives, environmental, economic and social, to achieve satisfactory results.
“People travel to explore other peoples and cultures and to enjoy nature and the environment. If we don’t protect the environment, presented by nature, people will not travel. We need to ensure sustainability across all sectors — environmentally, economically, and socially,” he said.
Responsible Tourism Practices
Al-Khateeb spotlighted Saudi Arabia’s efforts to enhance sustainability in the travel and tourism sector. “In 2019 we commissioned a study with the WTTC and Oxford Intelligence to analyze the sustainability of our industry, which revealed that our sector contributes to about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions,” the Saudi Minister said.
He warned that this number risks doubling to 15% or 16% in the worst-case scenario, given the high growth rate of the Saudi tourism sector over the next decade. Thus, the Kingdom has begun working to address these concerns. These efforts include launching campaigns designed to reduce food and water waste, in collaboration with international hospitality chains.
Furthermore, Saudi Arabia led initiatives in 2023, such as the Sustainable Tourism Global Center, fostering its cooperation with organizations like the UN and WTTC to promote responsible tourism practices around the globe.
Supporting SMEs
The Saudi Tourism Minister underscored the importance of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to the economic growth of the travel and tourism sector, as they account for 80% of the global tourism industry. Owing to their massive contribution to creating job opportunities, Al-Khateeb highlighted the need to support the SMEs. In 2023, females held 25% of jobs in the tourism sector, marking another milestone in Saudi Arabia.
Given this, the Kingdom is giving priority to supporting SMEs and entrepreneurs. This includes training and providing support for the next generation of tourism leaders. These initiatives include training 100,000 Saudis each year through a partnership with UN Tourism, Al-Khateeb said.
“We’ve funded over 1,500 small businesses through the Saudi Tourism Development Fund over the past two years, and we continue to make the sector more attractive as a viable business opportunity for entrepreneurs,” he noted.
The Saudi Minister also pointed to the importance of collaboration between the government and the private sector to strengthen the tourism industry. “The private sector is very important in our industry: It’s run by the private sector and we believe and we know in Saudi Arabia how important it is. That’s why we invited the private sector for the first time to join the G20 meetings held in Riyadh, and since then they have been joining all of them,” Al-Khateeb added.
