Saudi Arabia outlines strategy to attract middle-class tourists

Saudi Arabia is hosting the U.N. World Tourism Organization’s General Assembly this week as it unveils a broader tourism strategy aimed at attracting mass-market travelers, not just high-end visitors.

Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb said the shift marks a new phase in the government’s campaign to turn tourism into a major economic engine and draw 150 million visitors annually by the end of the decade.

“We have already started building destinations for the middle class and upper middle class,” Al-Khateeb told Reuters in an interview. “We will not ignore this segment.”

Delegates from more than 150 countries are attending the event in Riyadh, where Saudi officials are promoting investments tied to sustainability, heritage preservation and new technologies such as artificial intelligence.