The Saudization of Saudi Tourism

The most consequential change in Saudi tourism this year is a change of command from the top of the org chart downward, and it is the most bullish development in Vision 2030 in years. It is also the most widely misread.

I spent a working week in Riyadh earlier this month, much of it off the record, following up on two arguments I have made over the past year: that Saudi’s real opportunity is in events and the markets with most affinity to it, not in competing for Western beach travelers, and that the reset forced by the war was the chance to focus capital on the parts of the strategy that are actually delivering.

What I came back with is simpler than the project-by-project scorekeeping. The people running Saudi tourism are changing, wholesale, and so is the target traveler.

The Command Layer Turns Over

Walk the org charts of the entities that matter — Diriyah and Qiddiya and Red Sea Global and the Saudi Tourism Authority — and the same pattern r