Saudi Arabia is building its tourism industry at remarkable speed. But as more visitors arrive, the question is becoming less about what they can see and more about how they experience the country.
That was one of the themes at WTM Spotlight Riyadh, where tourism leaders discussed the growing importance of communities, heritage and local culture to Saudi Arabia’s tourism story.
Nearly 123 million domestic and international visitors travelled across the Kingdom in 2025, generating more than $81 billion (SAR304 billion) in tourism spending. With that growth comes a bigger question: how can tourism benefit the people who live in these destinations while protecting the traditions, landscapes and stories that make them interesting to visitors?
UN Tourism has identified five priorities for community tourism: creating local value, safeguarding living traditions and cultural identity, protecting the environment, bringing institutions together and ensuring experiences are commercially viable while meeting quality, health and safety standards.
AlUla offers an example of what this can look like. Community participation is being built into the destination across heritage, culture, creative industries, sport, social activities, handicrafts, innovation and technology. The emphasis is on co-creation rather than imposing a tourism model, while protecting what makes AlUla distinctive.
At HiHome, the idea starts at home — quite literally. The company has been working with local hosts to turn Saudi Arabia’s longstanding tradition of hospitality into a sustainable source of income. Some hosts were initially reluctant to accept payment, seeing their generosity simply as part of Saudi culture. But they were eventually convinced that creating an income from that hospitality was the best way to make it sustainable.
The same principle is being applied to the experiences visitors encounter. Rather than creating an attraction and adding heritage or culture afterwards, the starting point should be what makes Saudi Arabia itself distinctive: its people, food, landscapes, heritage and stories.
For travellers, that could mean a Saudi Arabia that is experienced through its communities and culture, rather than simply viewed as a collection of new attractions. As the Kingdom’s tourism industry grows, that sense of place could become one of its strongest draws.
