Saudi vision 
for travel

When Gloria Guevara left the World Travel & Tourism Council to become a top Saudi tourism advisor, one headline proclaimed the Saudis had hired “the most powerful woman in tourism.”

Guevara did not make the decision lightly, and that’s in large part because Saudi Arabia did not make its decision to become a global powerhouse lightly, either. 

Speaking from her office in the capital city of Riyadh, with photos of Saudi royals hanging behind her desk, Guevara said that her years of industry experience — she was also Mexico’s minister of tourism — taught her that there are three things countries need for success in travel and tourism: vision from its leadership, the right people to execute the vision and enough resources.

“Sometimes we have only one of those three, and that is very complicated,” she said. “You see countries struggling — they don’t have the resources and they might have the leadership or vice versa. You have the resources, but you don’t have the leadership or the vision. 

“But it’s very interesting when you see the three things combined, because things move fast.”

That combination is in place in Saudi Arabia, she said, as she's never seen it before. She called Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's vision and commitment to tourism "out of this world." The minister of tourism, Ahmed Al Khateeb, she said, being a former bank CEO, "understands how the private sector works and the benefits of tourism. The leadership is amazing.”

Then there are the resources. The kingdom has designated $1 trillion for the travel and tourism sector through 2030. 

“To put it in context, that is almost the GDP for Mexico,” Guevara said. “That is a lot of money.”

The Saudi plan

The crown prince’s plan to open his nation to tourism was announced in 2019, when the conservative Muslim country issued its first leisure travel visas to Westerners.

The Vision 2030 plan, developed as a way to diversify the nation’s oil-dominated economy through liberalization and foreign investment, includes a staggering tourism investment: 500,000 new hotel rooms by 2030; six “giga projects,” including the Red Sea Development Project, an eco-focused luxury site comprising 22 islands and plans for 50 hotels and an international airport; Qiddiya, an $8 billion city for entertainment, sports and the arts; Amaala, an ultraluxury wellness resort area along the northwestern Red Sea coast; AlUla, an open-air archaeological, cultural and touristic complex in the region with its namesake city and Unesco World Heritage site as its centerpiece; and Diriyah Gate, a $50 billion development on the northwestern edge of Riyadh that will have museums, retail, outdoor attractions and more than 100 restaurants.

Vision 2030 also included Cruise Saudi and a plan to develop ports, destinations and excursions to attract cruise ships to ports in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.

In early 2020, one of the most ambitious tourism plans ever laid out ran right into the Covid pandemic.

But that didn’t stop the momentum. 

Imran Changezi joined the Diriyah Gate Development Authority as director of business development for hospitality in February 2020, one month before international travel came to a halt. “Our instructions were very clear: There will be no gap, we will continue with the full force of our work,” Changezi said. 

In July 2020, the authority put out an invitation for global hotel brands interested in bringing their flags to the site, and by January 2021, it was signing its first management deals. By the end of 2021 the authority announced the first 14 hotels onboard. 

“It’s not a saturated market,” Changezi said of his pitch to the brands. “It’s a market with amazing opportunities for the brands to come into one of the top 20 world economies.”

By staying the course and maintaining focus on its long-term goal, Saudi Arabia now has the world’s largest hotel pipeline, according to STR, with the country expecting a 67% increase in room supply over the next three years, representing more than 70,000 rooms. 

Gensler Hospitality leader Tom Ito said the design and architecture firm has seen its Saudi business boom, including work on the Indigo Hotel and Hotel Al Khozama in Riyadh, with the properties ranging from traditional to cutting-edge. 

“In some cases, the clients have really wanted to demonstrate the culture, the history of Saudi Arabia, and so those influences are embedded in the architecture, design and style,” Ito said. “On the other hand, because they are so forward-moving, we have other projects in Saudi Arabia that are totally new and innovative in terms of design and character.” 

Most of the Saudi hotel growth is related to the giga projects. The Diriyah Gate Development Authority has plans for 38 hotels, done in the traditional Saudi Najdi architectural style. The first 14 brands include Oberoi, Six Senses, Ritz-Carlton, Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, Park Hyatt, Baccarat Hotels and Resorts and Orient Express, making its Middle East debut. Diriyah will also feature an Aman and will be home to the country’s first hotel under the LXR brand from Hilton, which said in December that it will increase its Saudi Arabia footprint from 15 to 75 properties. Amaala, the Red Sea resort, is expected to produce 2,500 luxury hotel rooms by its completion in 2028. 

Hilton is among the hotel brands not only looking to capitalize on leisure travel but also on an expected boom in religious tourism: The kingdom wants to see religious tourists increase from 17 million to 30 million annually by 2025. The holy cities of Mecca and Medina have several large hotel projects in the pipeline, and Hilton, which has been in the country since 1995, sees itself as well positioned to win the new visitors. 

“Religious travel in Saudi Arabia is of a unique nature in comparison to other markets, and naturally, it is of utmost importance to us, with our teams experienced in providing exceptional hospitality for pilgrims,” said Kamel Ajami, Hilton’s vice president for Saudi Arabia operations. 

Cruise Saudi saw the first fruits of its investment last summer when the first international cruise ships launched from Jeddah, Saudi’s second-largest city. 

MSC Cruises signed a five-year deal for preferential berthing rights in Jeddah and last summer launched one of its newest and largest ships, the 4,500-passenger MSC Bellisima, from the city, adding to its earlier plan to base the MSC Magnifica there. 

Achille Staiano, vice president of global sales for MSC, said that Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea are “extremely important for us, and there is great untapped potential in this region.” Saudi cruises, he added, drive the line’s strategy to “make new destinations available” to passengers. 

“Saudi Arabia was not only new for MSC Cruises, it was a new tourist destination for the travel industry,” he said. “This is a destination with so much potential ... . Saudi Arabia is rich in culture and traditions that date back many thousands of years; it offers incredible pristine beaches, new places to discover and, of course, fabulous weather.” 

In a move to make it easier for people to get to Jeddah, MSC launched a Fly & Cruise program with Saudia, the national carrier, from airports in 10 countries, including New York JFK and Washington Dulles, which Staiano believes will drive increased demand. 

Staiano said early Saudi cruisers are mostly interested in culture and that the most popular excursions and activities have been those that “enable the guests to immerse themselves in the rich culture, history and heritage of this region.” 

The “pristine, unspoiled” beaches make it a “perfect combination of sun and sea along with adventure and discovery,” he added. 

Luxe line Scenic Cruises launched Red Sea itineraries on its expedition vessel, the Scenic Eclipse, from Jeddah last summer, as well, with Scenic chairman Glen Moroney predicting that “Saudi Arabia will be one of the hottest tourist destinations in coming years.”

‘Work in progress’

Some of the early visitors to Saudi Arabia have come back lauding its potential but saying that it’s a “work in progress.”

Ann Chamberlin, Scenic’s vice president of sales, was on an October sailing from Jeddah with a group of travel advisors. She said the country is rich in culture and sites but that its tourism infrastructure is not quite up to the standards Westerners are used to.

“It was an incredible experience,” she said. “The travel advisors were just blown away with the area and that we were able to see what has not previously been open to international travelers.”

However, she said, the guides need more training, and expectations need to be tempered. For example, when guests arrived for a luxury dinner experience in the desert, it was still being set up. 

She said the group was understanding and in some cases “thought it was fantastic because it was so authentic and not catered to the American experience.”

Chamberlin said hardware, such as motorcoaches, are beautiful and new, and that the people are hospitable. 

“We were very pleasantly surprised how friendly and curious people were, and warm,” she said. “You’d get off the ship and we were just kind of looking at each other like, ‘Wow, this is amazing.’ They were taking more photos of us than we were of them … . We all kind of got goose bumps, because it’s the people that travel unites.”

Chamberlin said the Red Sea experience was spectacular. The Eclipse visited a private island, and guests took dives on the ship’s submarine into the coral reef, the world’s third largest, and swam among sea turtles and other wildlife. 

Joshua Bush, CEO of Philadelphia’s Avenue Two Travel, said he wanted to visit Saudi Arabia because he’s always looking for the next place to go. He was hosted by the Saudi Tourism Authority in November. 

Bush also said it’s “a work in progress” and “a great destination for those intrepid travelers right now who want to see a country before it’s completely gone through a change,” he said, adding that it will happen soon. “There will be more Four Seasons in Saudi Arabia than in France, with six on the way.”

Bush said that for early travelers, a cruise might be the best way to experience the kingdom with the comfort of returning to a ship. “Our cruise travelers are going to be the first ones for 2022, because it’s a limited exposure,” he said. “For the true land-based traveler, I think it’s going to be a little while until we see tour operators like Abercrombie & Kent in place, and some other well-known names, that will provide that safety net to ensure a true luxury experience there.” He said some tour operators are waiting for hotel projects to be done. 

Bush said the Saudi food scene was “off the charts” — and not only the Middle Eastern fare.

“Here we are in the middle of the desert, and I had some of the best sushi I’ve had in my life outside of Tokyo,” he said. 

Bush found the museums in Riyadh to be “absolutely phenomenal” and said the ruins at AlUla are similar to Petra in Jordan, but “you have the ability to explore them without anybody around.”

He, too, was blown away by the warmth of the locals and said that while walking the Old Town of Jeddah, people would randomly say “Welcome to Saudi Arabia” and that older men playing dominoes waved for his group to come over and talk to them. 

“It’s just so warm and welcoming,” he said. “The hospitality is truly ingrained in their culture.”

Signs of social reforms

Meeting the people was important to Bush because of the country’s “difficult, checkered and bad past with human rights.” 

“I wanted to see and understand for myself how women are treated,” he said. “What I’ve found in most of my travels is that people are people no matter what they are, wherever they are. We all sit down, eat and talk, and when we have an opportunity to do that, you get so much more of an understanding of history, of people, of culture; you get to see things from their perspective.”

Bush said his clients have asked about those issues, and he wanted to have firsthand experience from the destination. “I was delightfully surprised,” he said. “I was traveling with a couple of single women, as well, and they never felt unsafe. We could go wherever we want, whenever we wanted … . [It] really opened our eyes to how quickly this country is changing and how it wants to be a player on the world stage.”

Uber drivers were women, Bush said, and the helicopter pilot on his tour to AlUla was also a woman. Among the reforms, women no longer have to wear an abaya and cover their hair. 

Guevara said that she would not have accepted her position and moved her family to Saudi Arabia were the kingdom not sincere about change when it came to human rights in general. She said the crown prince had made the changes he promised in this regard, such as giving women the right to drive and to travel on their own and putting in place hiring mandates for women. 

She added that she had been asked to join the Saudi Tourism Authority years before but waited.

“I wanted to see the evidence,” Guevara said. “I wanted to see that they walked the talk, and, honestly, they have exceeded my expectations in many areas.”

Saudi Tourism CEO lays out the game plan

Fahd Hamidaddin, the CEO of the Saudi Tourism Authority, is heading up what may be the largest national investment in tourism the planet has ever seen. In an interview with Travel Weekly news editor Johanna Jainchill, he discussed why the country can set a new standard for tourism.

Q: How far along are the tourism projects?

A: Saudi is investing more than any country in the world on expanding the tourism sector. We have earmarked [hundreds of billions of dollars] in investment in the next 10 years across a wide variety of assets and capabilities, developing critical infrastructure and enhancing capacity to achieve our goal of 100 million annual visits to Saudi by 2030.

In 2022, the Red Sea Project will welcome its first guests and has signed nine hotel-management agreements with brands including St. Regis Hotels & Resorts, Raffles Hotels & Resorts and Grand Hyatt, among others.

In AlUla, Habitas recently opened their first property in the Middle East, and Saudi’s first Banyan Tree hotel will open there later this year. In Diriyah there are 38 hotels planed over the next few years. The Luxury Collection in Diriyah, operated by Marriott International, will open in 2022.

This year will also see a number of significant brands open in Riyadh and Jeddah, including Nobu, Time Express, Mansard and Edition.

Q: What is the tourism plan’s main focus?

A: Our overarching focus is on establishing a leading global destination by purposefully engineering social, cultural, economic and environmental imperatives.

Tourism is one of the few sectors of the economy that is largely resistant to automation and centered on personal interactions, and so it represents exciting career paths. We are working hard with local communities to help them benefit from the opportunities created by tourism while delivering the training and development our DMCs need to help them compete in the global market.

As we move into the post-pandemic era of tourism, we also recognize that simply rebuilding the sector as it was would be a catastrophic mistake. As a comparatively new destination, Saudi has the freedom to explore new ways of making our destination accessible to all while protecting and enhancing the cultural and natural assets that underpin its attractiveness. Saudi is leading the world in genuine regenerative tourism, using existing technologies in areas like coral gardening, reforestation, carbon-negative energy production and visitor management technology to not only protect our assets but actually improve them for future generations.

Q: Are you targeting U.S. travelers?

A: The U.S. is in our top-five priority source markets globally. Saudi is easily accessible for American travelers, whether they are flying direct or visiting as part of a wider regional itinerary.

Our year-round leisure tourism offer has special appeal for U.S. travelers attracted to largely unexplored destinations. Saudi is the authentic home of Arabia: a fertile ground for cultural exploration and outdoor adventure. 

An expanding offer of world-class entertainment like MDLBeast, the world’s largest electronic dance music event; sporting events like the Saudi Grand Prix, Formula One’s fastest road circuit; relaxing Red Sea cruises; and lifestyle events like the Riyadh Seasons festival add further depth to the offer. A vibrant lifestyle and entertainment sector translates to enhanced quality of life for citizens and residents, presenting an opportunity for them to experience home-grown arts, culture and sporting events for the first time in their own country and provides a compelling reason for travelers to add Saudi to their Middle East travel itinerary. 

With more than 70% of the population under the age of 35, Saudi is the world capital of youth, and our expanding entertainment and events sector generates not only a new future for the people of Saudi but also a significant growth market for the largest lifestyle events in the Middle East.

Q: How are you targeting U.S. travelers? 

A: Our representative office in the U.S. is leading our strategy of accelerating Saudi’s entry into the USA market through the establishment of strategic partnership agreements with key travel trade organizations, including travel agent consortia, OTAs, tour operators and associations. We expect many U.S. visitors will come initially as part of a trip to the region. We are working closely with tour operators and travel agents to develop and roll out short-stay itineraries as well as building longer-form packages and itineraries to appeal to travelers seeking to visit Saudi as a standalone destination.

And, of course, we are investing significantly in awareness-building in the U.S. market through our destination marketing campaigns across highly targeted digital and broadcast channels. The results of this outreach have been very positive, with significant increases in awareness and consideration.

Q: Is the travel trade part of that strategy? 

A: We have a strong presence in key trade events, including Virtuoso Travel Week, WTM in London and ILTM in Cannes. During the pandemic, we commenced a program of destination workshops, road shows and briefings, virtually at first and later in person. These have been invaluable engagement platforms, informing and inspiring our international trade partners about the unique, diverse tourism offering of the country.