Dubai tourism posts record growth in the first half of 2025
Dubai is setting new tourism records this year while wealthy expats continue to feed the city’s real estate boom.
Almost 10 million foreigners visited Dubai during the first six months of 2025, a 6% increase over the same period last year that puts it on track to exceed the 2024 total of 18.7 million.
Western Europe was the largest source market for Dubai, accounting for 22% of international visitors, followed by the Russia and Eastern Europe region, and South Asia, contributing 15% each, according to government figures.
Demand for new homes from foreigners, meanwhile, is fueling construction in the city, with 24 real estate projects valued at $1.2 billion completed in the first half of 2025.
Non-oil industries drive Saudi growth for 5th straight quarter
Expansion of Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy – highlighted by construction, tourism and entertainment – is fueling a rebound in the kingdom’s finances amid falling petroleum prices.
Gross domestic product is expected to have expanded 3.9% in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year as Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ states lifted production limits to stimulate sales.
It was the fifth consecutive quarter of growth for the overall economy after a 3.4% expansion in the first three months of the year, according to the Saudi General Authority of Statistics.
The kingdom’s non-oil economy, which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman set as the fulcrum of his Vision 2030 economic blueprint, grew 4.7% in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, oil continued to be the driving force in the economy, with the sector expanding 3.8%.
The Saudi economic rebound was reflected in the International Monetary Fund’s decision on Wednesday to raise its GDP forecast for this year to 3.5%, revised from its earlier prediction of 3%.
The kingdom “has demonstrated strong resilience to shocks, with non-oil economic activities expanding, inflation contained, and unemployment reaching record-low levels,” the IMF said.
Saudi Arabia taps Monaco expertise for Red Sea yachting
Saudi Arabia is planning to bring the sparkle of Mediterranean marinas to its Red Sea coast, seeking counsel from the Principality of Monaco as it attempts to grow its yachting sector.
The Saudi Red Sea Authority has already issued 29 tourism licenses for yacht chartering and marina operations for its 1,800km coastline, which includes more than 1,000 islands and 150 pristine beaches.
Now it has signed agreements with the Yacht Club de Monaco and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation to help develop the sector.
Monaco, a minuscule tax haven on the French Riviera, is famous for attracting gigantic super yachts – and their billionaire owners – to its iconic Port Hercule, the glittering backdrop to one of the world’s most famous F1 circuits.
Saudi’s ambition is to attract 250,000 visitors from yacht tourism by 2030, generating $2.9 billion and creating 28,000 jobs.
Asfar expands Saudi tourism with hotel and entertainment projects
Saudi tourism startup Asfar is launching hotel and entertainment projects in Tier 2 cities to support the kingdom’s goal of becoming a top global destination.
Backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Asfar aims to extend tourist stays beyond major cities, CEO Fahad Bin Mushayt told Bloomberg.
The company’s first developments in Al Bahah and Yanbu are set to open by year-end, adding 2,000 hotel keys.
Bin Mushayt said that each of Asfar’s projects cost anywhere from $40 million to $107 million, with at least 30% of funding coming from the private sector.
Gulf states vie for investors on Swiss resort’s frigid streets
As the World Economic Forum opened Monday on the icy streets of Davos, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were beckoning delegates to come in from the cold – touting a range of gatherings inside their well-heated pavilions on the Swiss ski resort’s main drag.
Saudi House, an all-in-one base at 105 Promenade Street that the kingdom is using to attract foreign investment, will feature programs and exhibits prepared by 13 separate agencies.
They range from the Investment and Tourism ministries to the Royal Commission for AlUla – the ancient desert city, now a center for museums and resorts – to the Diriyah Company – which is carrying out a $63 billion overhaul of Riyadh’s historic core.
Walk-in visitors are generally treated to assorted varieties of Saudi dates and cardamom-infused coffee. Saudi House will also be hosting more elaborate luncheons and dinner meetings during the week.
“The kingdom’s approach to unlocking its potential involves really rewriting the economic playbook,” Saudi Economy and Planning Minister Faisal Alibrahim told Arab News in an interview published today.
“This is not just about investments or the government spending money,” he said. “This is about creating an environment that’s vibrant, that attracts capital, attracts minds to the opportunities that are being created in the kingdom led today by the government.”
Down the road at 68 Promenade Street, the UAE will also have a crowded schedule. On Tuesday, G42 Chief Operating Officer Mansoor Al Mansoori will host Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, for a public chat on “how global cooperation can address challenges like ethical governance, inclusivity, and shared innovation.”
Saudi Arabia has patterned its own annual business forum after the Swiss gathering, establishing the Future Investment Initiative conference in 2017 that was immediately dubbed “Davos in the Desert.”
At its eighth edition last October, some 7,000 movers and shakers poured into Riyadh for the get-together that takes place at the opulent Ritz Carlton hotel and in the vast halls of the adjacent King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center.
Getting a jump on the confab, the developers of Saudi Arabia’s trillion-dollar-plus Neom project invited a select group of financiers, celebrities and influencers to a kickoff event at Sindalah Island, five kilometers off the kingdom’s west coast.
The Red Sea resort island, where an ecosystem is rising of super-luxury hotels, swank night clubs and an 86-berth yacht marina, hosted a beach party headlined by Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys. She sang to an audience that included actor Will Smith, tennis champ Rafael Nidal and former NFL quarterback Tom Brady.
Back in the capital, FII featured a bevy of investment bankers, hedge fund founders and corporate titans who are veterans of Davos and have become regulars at the Saudi conference, showcasing its aspirations for global influence.
Among the speakers on the main stage were bankers Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock; Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreesen Horowitz Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi; Ken Griffin, Founder and CEO of Citadel. Others included Dame Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange; Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google; and Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreesen Horowitz.
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The three-day event was introduced by Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is Governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and Chairman of Aramco. Richard Attias, who hosts and produces the Saudi conference as CEO of the FII Institute, was earlier in his career producer of the WEF conference in Davos.
Saudi Arabia cuts hotel fees to stimulate its tourism industry
Saudi Arabia is tearing down barriers to entry when it comes to tourism.
Having poured billions into developing its Red Sea spas, historical desert sites and sporting events, the kingdom has decided to scrap municipal licensing fees for hotels, hotel apartments, and residential resorts.
The move reflects the country’s efforts to transform the economy away from its longtime dependence on oil and develop industries such as tourism, finance and manufacturing.
Saudi Arabia has been determined to strike a balance between making foreigners feel welcome while guarding the Islamic country’s conservative ideals.
Gulf tourists in Hong Kong spend more money than ever
Hong Kong is rolling out the red carpet for Saudi and Emirati travelers with a love of luxury.
Armed with data that show visitors from Saudi Arabia and the UAE are likely to spend some $1,450 a day when they visit, Hong Kong tourism officials have launched a new campaign aimed at the Gulf to promote their plush hotels, Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurants and South China Sea landscapes.
At a time that political friction weighs on Chinese ties with the U.S. and Europe, Hong Kong – classified as a Special Administrative Region of China with limited autonomy – is broadening its focus and finding a wealthy audience in the GCC region eager to explore Asia in style.
“Since 2010 we have watched the GCC market grow, especially Dubai, which is now a global capital,” Henry Wong, Director of Trade Development at Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), told The Circuit. “We believe it’s the right time to focus” on Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The new attention to the Gulf was evident at the Arabian Travel Market conference in Dubai that took place in May, where the HKTB set up its largest booth ever with representatives from more than 30 hotels, travel agencies and cultural institutions.
In October, the tourism agency will sponsor a trade mission to Riyadh and Dubai, bringing in representatives from Hong Kong hotels and other businesses for networking with the Gulf travel industry.
During the travel conference in May, Hong Kong officials signed draft agreements with the UAE government to expand tourism within the GCC market and with the dnata Travel Group to strengthen partnerships with Gulf airlines and travel agencies. The UAE also signed a preliminary agreement with the China Cultural Center to facilitate air travel to China and organize promotional trips to familiarize UAE travel agents with the world’s second most populous country.
Among the attractions being promoted this year are the Palace Museum, the West Kowloon Cultural District, M+ and the Art Basel Hong Kong art fair, Becky Ip, Deputy Executive Director of HKTB, told The Circuit
“GCC travelers used to travel more to Europe and even Thailand and Malaysia,” she said. “Now I think they are prepared to go beyond these places and see more of the east.”
Saudi investment in heritage tourism is starting to pay off
Across Saudi Arabia, ancient sites filled with the remnants of mud-brick imperial palaces and rocky Nabatean tombs are coming back to life.
From Riyadh’s Diriyah royal district and storied Red Sea port of Jeddah to the desert region of AlUla, the kingdom is spending lavishly to uncover its buried past and use it as a draw for both foreign and domestic tourists.
The dusty Jax industrial area on the outskirts of the Saudi capital, for example, has been transformed into a creative district crowned by the new Saudi Museum of Contemporary Art, or SAMoCA. Doors opened this week at teamLab Borderless Jeddah, the country’s first digital art museum, which sits in Jeddah’s historic Al-Balad neighborhood.
“Just like the preservation of the environment, it is crucial to preserve culture,” Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO of the Saudi Tourism Authority, said during a media roundtable discussion last month at the Arabian Travel Market conference in Dubai. “We are trying our best to make big bets on how much we can do that.”
Among the kingdom’s biggest bets so far is ancient AlUla, in which the government has poured billions to turn the site into a magnet for hikers, history buffs, art lovers and luxury travelers. In January, the Royal Commission for AlUla set up its own pavilion on the snowy main street of Davos, suiting up financiers at the World Economic Forum (WEF) with 3D goggles for an immersive virtual tour of the arid terrain.
“We are aiming to uphold the traditions and heritage of what AlUla has stood for across millennia,” Melanie de Souza, the commission’s Executive Director of Destination Marketing, told The Circuit at the Dubai travel conference. “We believe we have a responsibility to be preserving that heritage and telling a deep and rich story about it.”
Visitors can explore AlUla through guided excursions that show off the ancient rock formations and archaeological wonders of the Nabateans, who ruled northern Arabia and the southern Levant between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC. Accommodations range from mid-market hotels to new five-star resorts such as the Caravan by Habitas AlUla and the Banyan Tree AlUla.
Both hotels have been built according to environmentally sustainable principles and evoke ancient Nabatean architecture in their design. Guests are greeted by professional guides known as “rawis,” who are trained to help visitors understand AlUla’s history. The commission expects to create 40,000 new jobs over the next decade in AlUla, where unemployment runs high.
Last year, AlUla’s mirror-walled Maraya Concert Hall was the site of a three-month exhibition dedicated to American pop artist Andy Warhol that included his signature portraits of Muhammad Ali, Bob Dylan and Elizabeth Taylor.
Now the area’s new Al Jadidah Arts District offers several new spaces for contemporary art and design, including Athr and Design Space AlUla. Meanwhile, a range of casual and high-end restaurants have introduced dishes derived from the ancient Nabateans and their desert landscape.
Over the last five years since Saudi Arabia first introduced online visas for international visitors, tourism has grown dramatically. More than 100 million visitors entered the kingdom in 2023, a 56% increase from 2019.
The investment in heritage sites across Saudi Arabia also appears to be paying off. Close to 92% of AlUla visitors visit archeological sites or engage in other heritage-related activities, according to the commission, and ticket transactions for heritage experiences increased by 30% in 2023. Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb said at the WEF’s Riyadh summit in April that the kingdom’s tourism sector expects to rake in $80 billion in 2024 while introducing foreign travelers to Saudi culture.
“You get the best experience, and you know more about other people’s culture and other nations’ cultures when you deal and interact with locals,” Al-Khateeb said at the conference. “We want to make sure that our guests are served by local people.”
In Jeddah, three historic properties in Al-Balad – Beit Jokhdar, Beit Al Rayess and Beit Kedwan– are being restored as “heritage hotels.” The project is part of $20 billion Jeddah Central Project that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced in 2020 that is rehabilitating some 5.7 million square meters of the city’s historic waterfront.
“For us, tourism is way more than just another economic sector,” Hamidaddin said. “It has allowed us to have a voice that brings the world’s attention to Saudi.”
Qatar seeks to ‘liberate’ hotel industry in push for tourists
Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament ignited tourism in 2022 and officials say they hope to stoke the industry further through deregulation.
By changing rules on licensing and operating hours, the Gulf state expects to generate a new bounty of international visitors, Saad bin Ali Al Kharji, Chairman of Qatar Tourism told Bloomberg in an interview.
“We will try to liberate the hospitality sector and remove any obstacles,” he said.
Defying expectations of a downturn following the World Cup, incoming arrivals to Qatar swelled 39% to 4 million tourists last year from 2022.
Qatar’s strategic plan calls for tourism to contribute 12% to GDP as Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia and the UAE also invest heavily in the industry.
The Gulf Cooperation Council plans to offer a regional visa soon that would grant tourists access to all six of its member nations.
Saudia airline being repositioned for kingdom’s tourism push
As Saudi Arabia’s new Riyadh Air prepares to start flying next year, the kingdom’s venerable carrier Saudia is being repositioned to fit into a new blueprint for boosting business and tourism.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund has started talks to acquire Jeddah-based Saudia, which flies to 90 destinations, in a step that may lead to the airline’s privatization, Bloomberg reports.
The two airlines will work in tandem to pursue the kingdom’s twin goals of bolstering access to Saudi Arabia as a regional finance hub while also turning it into a magnet for foreign tourists.
Under the plan, Riyadh Air pursues the business crowd and Saudia will focus more on the market for religious pilgrimages to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
