Saudi Arabia tourism grows far beyond Mecca

Hidden destinations move centre stage

The Ministry of Tourism reports that Saudi Arabia welcomed around 123 million domestic and inbound tourists in 2025. Total tourism spending reached roughly SAR 305 billion over the year. As a result, the original Vision 2030 target of 100 million annual visitors has been met ahead of schedule. The Kingdom has since raised the bar to 150 million visitors by 2030.

The composition of growth is shifting fast. Ministry figures show domestic tourists reached about 93.3 million in 2025, while inbound visitors totalled roughly 29.3 million. Non-religious travel is now the largest single purpose for inbound overnight visits. That signals a clear break from the Kingdom’s historical reliance on pilgrimage-led demand.

AlUla and its Hegra site — Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage listing — have emerged as flagship anchors for this shift. AlUla recorded around nine million visitor nights in 2025. Visitor nights there are forecast to grow at an average of 11% a year through 2030, per Ministry projections. Farasan Islands, Jeddah’s Al-Balad district, Riyadh and the mountain city of Taif are also drawing cultural, nature and adventure travellers in growing numbers.

Are hidden experiences reshaping spend patterns?

Preliminary Ministry of Tourism data for Q1 2026 confirm this diversification is now measurable. Total visitor trips reached about 37.2 million in the quarter, up roughly 8% year on year. Domestic trips rose 16% to 28.9 million. International arrivals eased to about 8.3 million.

Despite softer inbound volumes, spending held firm. Combined tourism expenditure in Q1 2026 reached approximately SAR 82.7 billion, equivalent to about US$22.1 billion. Domestic tourism accounted for around SAR 34.7 billion of that total. Average spend per inbound visitor rose compared with a year earlier.

Over the full year 2025, foreign tourists generated between SAR 159.9 billion and SAR 172 billion in spending. A report by Tourism Economics forecasts that international leisure tourism to Saudi Arabia will grow by about 93% between 2025 and 2030, outpacing regional and global averages. Leisure’s share of international visitor spending rose from roughly 9% in 2019 to 28% in 2025 and is projected to reach around 31% by 2030. Vision 2030 targets tourism contributing approximately 10% of GDP by the end of the decade.

What does the shift mean for investors?

Capital deployment is following the geographic spread. As travellers seek desert trails, historic districts and coastal reserves, demand is rising for boutique hotels, eco-lodges and mid-scale family resorts. These sit across a far wider footprint than the headline giga-projects command. Domestic tourism’s 16% year-on-year growth in Q1 2026 also points to a deeper local market for weekend trips, festivals and sports events.

Infrastructure and Islamic finance will need to track this dispersion. Road, airport and port upgrades in secondary regions can anchor new visitor flows. Sharia-compliant project finance, sukuk structures and tourism-linked real estate funds are well-placed to support medium-sized developments that offer attractive risk-adjusted returns below the giga-project tier. The PIF tourism firm targeting Saudi Arabia’s Al-Khafji coast signals that sovereign capital is already moving into precisely these secondary destinations.

Investors and policymakers should watch whether visitor nights and spending in these emerging hubs continue to outpace headline growth as the Kingdom advances towards its 150-million-visitor target and a larger tourism share of GDP.

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