The World Bank has said that until recently tourism in Saudi Arabia mainly concentrated on religious sites. Yet, that is rapidly changing through the partnership between the World Bank Group and the Kingdom.
Rafeef Abdelrazek, The World Bank’s Senior Urban Development Specialist, said that under Vision 2030, “tourism is becoming more than just travel – it’s about opportunity, culture, and progress.”
She added that WBG, which has long recognized the productive potential of the tourism sector in the Kingdom, “has been helping Saudi Arabia with its tourism strategy for a decade, providing technical assistance to stakeholders at national, regional, and local levels.”
“Together we have worked on advancing tourism’s potential while preserving natural assets and cultural heritage and avoiding overconsumption and negative effects on communities.”
Through targeted steps Saudi Arabia advanced in the ranking of the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) to 33 out of 170 countries in 2021 from 43 in 2019, Abdelrazek stated.
The Bank continues to support the Ministry with capacity building and technical advisory on strategic issues such as sustainability, smart city and disruptive technologies in tourism, competitiveness, and resilience.
“Like other productive industries, tourism needs an enabling environment and resources –sufficient infrastructure, services and skilled people. While it can create opportunities, it can also affect livability like housing affordability, traffic, and pollution levels,” Abdelrazek said.
She added that “these factors should be balanced to ensure the sector remains productive and does not become a burden on authorities, residents, resources, and landscapes. It is with this foresight that the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), and Diriyah Gate Development Authority (DGDA) and Diriyah Company (DC) have been engaging the WBG.”
She stressed that AlUla’s stunning landscape is a crossroad of history. The Bank has been supporting the RCU on the revitalization of the region and the development of a sustainable tourism economy, contributing to economic growth and local jobs.
Recently, the Bank conducted an extensive baseline assessment of the development process with the RCU focusing on urban and spatial development, tourism and economic sustainability, cultural heritage, and social and environmental sustainability, she added.
Diriyah, known as the birthplace of the Kingdom, aims to be a sustainable city that is mixed use and walkable, Abdelrazek said. “DGDA and DC have been working with the WBG to implement sustainable and inclusive best practices and policies to enable heritage-based urban regeneration and economic growth through a people-centric approach.”
She stressed that Diriyah is targeting 180,000 new jobs to emerge from this large-scale development investment. With WBG technical assistance, DC has developed a job creation and local economic development (LED) framework with a recently launched job creation program that partners with universities and national programs.
“The program aims to bring the community and fresh graduates from the area into the job market through upskilling and training, and in turn bridge the skills gap and ensure there’s a ready local workforce for the tourism assets and offerings under development,” she stated.
“The first pilot successfully trained members from the local community culminating in internships and jobs at the Bab Samhan Hotel, a real estate asset developed by DC and leased out to the private sector to manage,” Abdelrazek added.
