Under the revolutionary Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has embarked on bold plans to diversify its economy and reduce reliance on oil revenues. These efforts have included increasing investments in various economy sectors, including wellness economy.
Wellness economy includes industries that enable consumers to incorporate wellness activities and lifestyles into their daily lives, according to the Global Wellness Institute (GWI).
It involves 11 sectors: mental wellness, physical activity, wellness real estate, workplace wellness, wellness tourism, spa economy, thermal/mineral springs, healthy eating, nutrition and weight loss, personal care and beauty, preventive and personalized medicine and public health, and traditional and complementary medicine.
What is Wellness Tourism?
Tourism is a key pillar of Vision 2030 diversification plans, as it creates more job opportunities and improves the quality of life. As a result, the Kingdom has set an ambitious target of attracting 150 million visitors by 2030, after achieving the initial target of 100 million visitors in 2023. It also makes heavy investments in emerging tourism trends, including wellness tourism which boasts an impressive annual growth rate.
Wellness tourism is gaining momentum around the world, with a booming global market projected to reach $8.5 trillion by 2027, with an annual growth rate of 8.6%, according to the GWI.
Wellness tourism is an emerging tourism trend that focuses on promoting health and wellbeing. It involves traveling to various destinations around the world in pursuit of activities that maintain a healthy lifestyle, reduce stress, prevent disease, and boost wellbeing.
The wellness tourism is a major contributor to economy, as it supports wellness businesses, such as spas and wellness retreats, and boosts other wellness-related venues, such as yoga studios, gyms and fitness centers, healthy food stores, events, arts and crafts, and museums. It also diversifies the tourism market and brings new investments to rural and less developed areas.
A Booming Global Market
2025 is expected to see a boom in wellness tourism, owing to the global geopolitical tensions and climate-driven crises, which prompt more people to seek healing and wellness, according to the Future of Wellness: 2025 Trends, released by the Global Wellness Summit.
With regards to this, the Vice President of Research and Forecasting at the Global Wellness Summit, Beth McGroarty, said: “2024 was one extremely stressful year, from rising climate disasters (like the Los Angeles wildfires) to over 50 divisive elections held globally. [The year] 2025 looks to be even more stressful and complex. People will seek wellness and healing.”
Middle East Potential
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region offers a promising market for wellness tourism, driving the growth of the global wellness economy.
In 2023, the global wellness economy reached $6.3 trillion, accounting for 25% growth since 2019, according to GWI data cited by Forbes Middle East. This sector is projected to grow with an annual rate of 7.3% through 2028. In this context, the top ten Arabic wellness markets grew by 28.6%, jumping from $84.29 billion in 2019 to $108.42 billion in 2023.
2 #SaudiArabia
Country Wellness Economy Size $27.55 B
Global Ranking 30 pic.twitter.com/pdpIAvc6DK— Forbes Middle East (@Forbes_MENA_) February 21, 2025
These countries are led by the UAE, which ranked 1st in the MENA region and 26th globally with a wellness economy size of $34.05 billion. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia secured the second place regionally and the 30th globally, with a wellness economy size of $27.55 billion.
Emerging Trends
This growth is driven by a wealthy demographic and luxury-seeking consumers, which will place the Middle East as a wellness leader. Many of Middle Eastern countries have incorporated wellness tourism into their national visions, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.
The Future of Wellness: 2025 Trends report attributes this incredible boom to the significant growth of MENA beauty and personal care market, which is valued at over $46 billion and has the potential to reach $60 billion by 2025. Moreover, the AI-driven health services are also driving the wellness market growth in the MENA region, with a potential to boost the region’s economy by $320 billion by 2030.
Saudi Arabia Leads the Way
As part of Vision 2030 objectives, wellness tourism is expected to increase the number of Riyadh’s targeted visits to 27.4 million by 2030, further boosting the Kingdom’s economy.
Furthermore, more Saudi beauty brands are harnessing the Kingdom’s natural wealth in their cosmetics and skin care products, including plants like prickly pear oil, date seed oil, and pomegranate extract. In the light of this, Saudi Arabia’s wellness economy is projected to see a 66% annual average growth rate in wellness tourism.
Under Vision 2030, the Kingdom is investing heavily in wellness amenities and tourism infrastructure, particularly along the Red Sea. It also makes massive investments to promote arts, culture and sports to promote healthy lifestyles, according to GWI.
The GWI Chair and CEO, Susie Ellis, said: “Saudi Arabia’s wellness market has demonstrated remarkable resilience and growth, driven by strategic investments outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which emphasizes enhancing Saudi citizens’ health and wellbeing while fostering wellness tourism opportunities.”
Investing in Wellness
Saudi Arabia boasts diverse topography and rich wellness heritage, from the vast golden sand dunes, to the mesmerizing volcanic formations, long mountain ranges, green oases and the charming waters of the Red Sea. This has helped the Kingdom’s plans to enhance health, wellness and quality of life.
Aiming to increase the tourism contribution to the GDP from 3% to 10% by 2030, Saudi Arabia is making massive investments in wellness tourism by launching mega projects that aim to position the Kingdom as a premier global destination for luxury and sustainable tourism.
With regards to this, Red Sea Global leads Saudi Arabia’s efforts, developing more luxury wellness resorts and hotels with flagship projects such as AMAALA, which integrates cutting-edge technologies with traditional health practices. Furthermore, the futuristic city of NEOM plays a significant role in boosting wellness tourism, with innovative destinations and luxury wellness resorts along the Red Sea coastline.
Moreover, Saudi Arabia holds AlUla Wellness Festival, an annual event that aims to promote AlUla as a destination for wellness tourism, offering a variety of activities that boost physical and mental wellbeing through ancient healing practices, yoga sessions and meditation.
Saudi Arabia’s Wellness Economy
According to GWI latest data, cited by Forbes Middle East, Saudi Arabia wellness economy size in 2023 reached $27.55 billion, positioning it in the 2nd place regionally and the 30th globally. This marks a significant increase from the GWI data for 2022, which put the Kingdom’s wellness economy value at $19.8 billion.
The GWI listed Saudi Arabia’s wellness economy key sectors value. The first number listed after the sector represents Saudi Arabia’s global ranking in comparison to 218 countries, the percentage indicates the annual growth rate from 2020 to 2022, and the final number is the sector’s valuation:
- Healthy Eating, Nutrition & Weight Loss: #27, +5.5%, $5.8B
- Physical Activity: #25, +16.6%, $4.7B
- Personal Care & Beauty: #41, +9.6%, $4.4B
- Public Health, Prevention & Personalized Medicine: #25, +6.5%, $2.5B
- Mental Wellness: #19, +10.9%, $1.1B
- Spas: #31, +35.6%, $0.6B
- Wellness Tourism: #67, +66%, $0.5B
- Workplace Wellness: #15, +2.8%, $0.5B
- Traditional & Complementary Medicine: #61, +5.3%, $0.2B
- Wellness Real Estate: #39, +23.4%, $0.2B
- Thermal/Mineral Springs: #111, +41.5%, $0.0B
