Tourism must be led as economic infrastructure if it is to drive growth, resilience and human connection in an increasingly fragmented world.
This was the message to world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos from Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Tourism.
His Excellency Ahmed Al-Khateeb emphasised that tourism should no longer be treated as a discretionary sector, but as a strategic system capable of supporting diversification, attracting long term investment and creating inclusive employment across regions when planned and governed intentionally.
“With an estimated 2 billion international arrivals by 2030, the question for leaders is not whether tourism will grow, but whether it will scale responsibly,” said Mr Al-Khateeb.
“When tourism is designed as economic, social and cultural infrastructure, it becomes a powerful engine for diversification, resilience and long-term value, not simply movement across borders.”
Drawing on Saudi Arabia’s experience under Vision 2030, the Minister highlighted how tourism has become a cornerstone of the Kingdom’s economic transformation.
In 2025, the Kingdom recorded 30 million inbound visitors, with a target of 150 million by 2030.
Saudi Arabia has is the world’s largest single investor in tourism, with a pipeline of investment that covers destinations, aviation, digital platforms and human capital.
Tourism now contributes nearly 5% of the Kingdoms direct GDP and employs more than one million people.
Mr Al-Khateeb also highlighted ‘Beyond Tourism’, a multi sector initiative developed in collaboration with the World Economic Forum to elevate tourism from an industry discussion to a system-level leadership agenda.
The initiative aims to align policy, capital and innovation across sustainability, inclusion, resilience and investment.
“Tourism remains undervalued in economic decision making,” he said.
“Despite representing a USD 10 trillion global economy, it is still too often absent from infrastructure, trade and industrial policy.
“Elevating tourism requires treating it as a productivity, resilience and connectivity engine supported by coherent policy and data driven frameworks.”
Saudi Arabia also highlighted TOURISE, a global platform designed to move tourism from ambition to execution by convening governments, investors and industry leaders to accelerate collaboration and delivery.
Since its launch, TOURISE has convened nearly 10,000 leaders from more than 100 countries and helped catalyse more than $US113 billion in tourism related investment.
The next global TOURISE gathering is scheduled for March 2027.
