“Travel and tourism builds diversified and resilient economies”: Saudi Arabia Minister of Tourism, His Excellency Ahmed Al-Khateeb, tells World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos

The Travel and Tourism sector’s essential contribution to shaping the global landscape was underscored at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos this week with His Excellency Ahmed A. Al-Khateeb, Saudi Arabia Minister of Tourism, urging world leaders to provide the industry with the focus and collaborative solutions it deserves.

Saudi Arabia welcomed nearly 30 million international visitors in 2024 and contributed almost 5% to the Kingdom’s GDP. In dedicated WEF sessions on travel and tourism, His Excellency, who attended Davos as part of the official Saudi Arabia WEF Delegation, highlighted the Kingdom’s unprecedented growth rates. He stressed the critical role that tourism has in building diversified and resilient economies, emphasizing that when Saudi Vision 2030 unlocked the travel and tourism sector, the Kingdom began building a holistic tourism experience based on international collaboration, best practices, and sustainable development.

As the WEF Annual Meeting concluded, His Excellency noted that the world was watching the remarkable resurgence of tourism, with the industry now fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels with 1.4 billion international arrivals in 2024.

“The world is counting on us to build a vibrant tourism ecosystem that meets growing demand while safeguarding our planet and quality of life. Tourism is more than an industry - it is a transformative force. We need to foster collective action to balance economic growth in the industry with social and environmental responsibility and ensuring the sector's resilience,” His Excellency said.

Throughout the forum, His Excellency led discussions as a key voice on official WEF panels including "Travel and Tourism’s Role in Building Trust” and "The Way We Will Travel”,  focused on mobilizing diversified sector growth and enhancing global collaboration to propel the travel and tourism sector to keep up with growing demand, as well as a high-level session at Saudi House that explored “Scaling Sustainable Tourism: Connecting People and Places.”

He shared the stage with distinguished leaders, including Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama, European Commissioner for Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Switzerland Tourism CEO Martin Nydegger and Trip.com CEO Jane Sun who all shared His Excellency’s sentiment on the need for further global collaboration.

In alignment with Saudi Arabia’s forward-thinking tourism strategy, the Ministry launched a new investment guide, the "Hospitality Investor White Paper" during the WEF Annual Meeting. This initiative supports Vision 2030's ambitious targets, aiming to attract more than SAR 40 billion (USD 11 billion) in private investments, contribute SAR 16 billion (USD 4 billion) to the GDP, and create 1.6 million jobs by 2030.

Minister Al-Khateeb also contributed expert insights to the WEF’s "The Future of Travel and Tourism: Embracing Sustainable and Inclusive Growth” briefing paper highlighting the growing demand for sustainable travel and the importance of cross-sector collaboration and the need to ensure local communities globally benefit from the resulting growth.

As the WEF Annual Meeting concludes, Minister Al-Khateeb's participation underscores Saudi Arabia's transformative role in reshaping the global tourism landscape, reinforcing the Kingdom's vision to establish itself as a leading hub for sustainable travel.