Riyadh has hosted plenty of large-scale gatherings over the past two years, but nothing on the scale or ambition of the inaugural Tourise Summit. The three-day event held this fall attempted something unusually bold: to position Saudi Arabia not simply as a fast-growing destination, but as a new center of gravity for the global tourism industry.
Nearly 8,000 delegates registered for the summit, including an eclectic mix of 140 speakers and CEOs from across aviation, hospitality, tech, investment, and government.
As H.E. Ahmed Al-Khateeb, Minister of Tourism, noted in his opening address, Tourise was designed as a platform “not just to discuss ideas” but to “turn bold ideas into real-world solutions,” and to reshape the sector at a moment when tourism demand has surpassed pre-pandemic levels while pressures on sustainability, infrastructure, and profitability continue to mount.
For travel advisors and hoteliers attending Connections Luxury – a concurrent event that became the brand’s largest ever – the week delivered a controlled but unmistakable message: Saudi Arabia intends to play a decisive role in how global tourism evolves over the coming decades. And unlike earlier periods of Vision 2030-era enthusiasm, there is now visible follow-through.
“This remarkable event brought together global leaders, innovators, and creators under one shared vision: shaping the future of tourism,” remarked Petia Manolova, Founder and CEO of Manolova Prestige. “From insightful conversations on sustainability and innovation to cultural experiences that beautifully blended authenticity with modernity, the summit felt like the beginning of an exciting new era in global travel.”
“The organization, venue, and facilities were world-class, but the content didn’t suit everyone,” said Deepak Nangla, Managing Director of Brightsun Travel. “Tourise was more about tourism than about Saudi Arabia. With so many global leaders present it was a missed opportunity to showcase their country.”
“There was a parallel event powered by Connections Luxury…and it was a far more engaging conference for travel advisors. Every evening they showcased different parts of Saudi Arabia – from dinners among locals, visits to historical sites, and even flying delegates to Jeddah,” he added.
Few people at the summit had watched Saudi Arabia’s transformation as closely as Rob Arrow, Senior Director Travel and Head of Almosafer Concierge, who has spent the past eight years working between Riyadh and Dubai.
Arrow noted how dramatically the country has shifted from the “very small, closed” industry gatherings he remembered before 2019 to an event of “high caliber and high quality of international travel professionals.”
But despite the high profile of the event’s guests, the atmosphere was kept relatively informal.
“I remember getting a coffee with Tony Fernandez, CEO of Air Asia and then Gilda [Perez-Alvarado], the CEO of Orient Express just walked up and we started chatting with each other. I don’t feel I’ve been anywhere else in the world at an event where that could happen like that.”
For Arrow, the openness on display was as striking as the scale of it.
“It’s one of the last places that has been closed for so many years to suddenly open up with so many exciting projects… it’s a very rare coming together,” he said, pointing to new offerings such as the Dream of the Desert train and sustainability-driven destinations like the Red Sea.
The combination of cultural warmth, ambitious development, and entirely new worlds for travelers to explore, he added, is what’s generating the global intrigue now surrounding Saudi Arabia.
(Tourise Summit)
Deals Deals Deals
The real story of Tourise happened off-stage. By the end of Day 2 it became clear why so many CEOs and global decision-makers had flown in: the event catalyzed an eye-catching USD 113 billion in investment portfolios, spanning everything from hotel development and wellness, to AI platforms, lifestyle experiences, large-scale mixed-use projects, and aviation.
For advisors, the headline is simple: supply is coming and at breakneck speed. Brands in the announcement list ranged from heavyweights such as Kerzner, Mandarin Oriental, Meliá, and Minor, to regional specialists, to boutiques such as the new Seven Legends by the Amek Group.
Other significant investments advisors will take note of are in entertainment and sports, particularly surrounding the Qiddiya City project – a development with the concept of “play” as its guiding principle.
Aviation players including Riyadh Air and King Salman International Airport had a prominent presence in the exhibition hall. One notable winner from the week: BeOnd, the Maldives-based luxury carrier.
The airline’s presence on the headline investment list signals Saudi Arabia’s interest in premium airlift partnerships, and suggests broader momentum for long-haul luxury connectivity into and through Riyadh.
The airline also announced during the conference the first direct connection between Europe (Milan) and the Red Sea Global project. In general, it’s been a very busy few weeks of dealmaking for BeOnd, having also announced a partnership with the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA).
While leisure tourism is still in its formative stages in Saudi Arabia, aviation partnerships will certainly be critical, and BeOnd’s alignment with the summit’s broader investment roster hints at future route expansion.
But Saudi Arabia’s aviation narrative extends well beyond a single airline. Delegates were given an early look at elements of King Salman International Airport, including a six-villa private aviation complex positioned directly on the new six-runway airfield.
The message wasn’t subtle: private aviation, MICE, and ultra-high-end traveler infrastructure are historical structural priorities from which the Kingdom will pursue its larger goals.
When combined with Riyadh Air’s recent launch, the capital is being positioned as a regional rival to Doha and Dubai for global connectivity, with the luxury segment anchoring much of the early investment.
But that’s about as far as the comparison with its neighbors can go. Saudi Arabia is a vast and varied country with a deep well of cultural traditions and destinations to draw upon. A more accurate comparison would be with Abu Dhabi and that city’s investment in the arts – a multi-year plan which has finally (and beautifully) come to fruition.
The question of course is how Saudi Arabia pursues its vision and stays true to its own heritage.
(Tourise Summit)
Artificial Intelligence
The most forward-looking announcement of the summit wasn’t a product but rather a signal.
Saudi Arabia and Globant introduced what they call the Agentic Protocol for Tourism – a conceptual framework for how future AI systems might connect the fragmented pieces of a traveler’s journey.
It’s not something advisors will use today and it won’t dictate industry standards, but it reflects Saudi Arabia’s ambition to play a central role in the infrastructure that will reshape the business of travel in the future.
The backdrop for this is how Saudi Arabia is positioning itself to be a global hub for AI-related computing, having increased its planned investments in the U.S. from $600 billion to $1 trillion.
Right now this is super macro and long-term, but it’s worth keeping in mind. The Kingdom will soon be importing tens of thousands of advanced U.S. chips and building some of the world’s largest AI-ready data centers. That means that companies in travel and hospitality will eventually need to understand where and how their AI systems are running.
Compute location is not neutral, as it determines which laws govern data, which commercial dependencies form, and how resilient a supplier’s technology stack truly is. Saudi’s announcements at Tourise signal that tourism’s future infrastructure may be shaped as much by where the algorithms live as they are by where travelers go.
More pertinent for the luxury segment right now is the release of The Future Laboratory’s “New Codes of Luxury” white paper, outlining how AI will reshape recognition, personalization, and anticipatory service for high-end hospitality. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed reported that AI should remain “human-first” and used primarily to help staff spend more meaningful time with luxury guests.
Early Signals for Advisors
Most advisors at Connections Luxury agreed that Saudi Arabia is not yet a full-scale leisure destination, unless you know the right DMCs and gatekeepers. But for corporate travel, MICE, private aviation, and ultra-luxury projects, the momentum is unmistakable.
The infrastructure is coming online quickly, the investment pipelines are real, and the country is putting extraordinary effort into bringing global partners into the fold (the phrase “public private partnership” was spoken innumerable times at the conference).
The inaugural Tourise was a statement of momentum, but it was also the world’s first close-up on exactly how the Kingdom intends to be a global player in luxury tourism, and beyond. It’ll be interesting to watch how that momentum sustains until the next edition of Tourise, scheduled to run from March 23-25, 2027.
Jacques Ledbetter is a Luxury Travel Advisor contributor and founder of The Luxe Ledger newsletter.
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