Industry leaders examine skills, education and leadership pathways as Saudi Arabia expands its visitor economy
Saudi Arabia’s tourism transformation is entering a new phase in which developing skilled local talent and future leaders will be increasingly important to sustaining the sector’s rapid expansion, according to industry experts participating in WTM Spotlight Riyadh.
The inaugural event, held from 8–10 September 2026 at the Riyadh Front Exhibition & Conference Center (RFECC), brought together tourism authorities, businesses, educators and international industry leaders to examine the opportunities and challenges emerging from the Kingdom’s rapidly developing visitor economy.
Among the key themes was the development of human capital capable of supporting Saudi Arabia’s expanding destinations, hospitality projects, entertainment developments and visitor experiences.
Talent becomes a strategic priority
Ibrahim Osta, Senior Economic Growth Director and Global Tourism Lead at Chemonics International and Professor of Management at the George Washington University School of Business, said Saudi Arabia’s next tourism phase would require greater emphasis on the depth and quality of employment alongside the continued expansion of the sector.
According to Osta, Saudi Arabia already has more than one million people working in tourism activities, although Saudi nationals account for only around a quarter of the workforce. The figures cited in the WTM announcement underline the scale of the workforce challenge as the Kingdom seeks to expand local participation and develop specialist expertise.
“The next phase is about depth: Saudi nationals entering the sector, building specialist expertise, progressing into leadership, and increasingly creating businesses of their own,” Osta said.
He argued that training programmes alone would not be sufficient to create sustainable tourism careers, with stronger links needed between occupational standards, employer requirements, recognised qualifications, recruitment and opportunities for professional advancement.
The issue is particularly relevant as Saudi Arabia moves beyond the initial phase of building destinations and infrastructure towards operating and managing an increasingly sophisticated tourism economy.
Future Stage focuses on one million tourism careers
These issues were addressed during the Future Stage session titled Talent & Leadership Panel: One Million Tourism Careers – Delivering Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Vision Beyond 2030, moderated by Osta in partnership with Chemonics International.
The session examined the skills and leadership capabilities required to support Saudi Arabia’s ambition of reaching 150 million visitors annually by 2030 and creating more than one million tourism jobs.
The 150-million visitor ambition is part of the Kingdom’s updated Vision 2030 tourism objectives. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 annual report says the country surpassed its earlier target of 100 million visitors ahead of schedule and subsequently raised its ambition to 150 million annual visitors by 2030.
The panel brought together representatives from major tourism developments, academia and government, including Salem Al Shahrani of the King Salman Gate Project, Raed Alghamdi of Red Sea Global, Fahad Alhuqbani of King Saud University, Muhannad Alghanmi of Qiddiya, Salman A. Alarifi of the Ministry of Tourism and Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett.
Tourism careers extend beyond hospitality
The discussion highlighted how the Kingdom’s emerging tourism economy is creating demand for skills extending well beyond conventional hotel and hospitality roles.
Future tourism professionals will increasingly require expertise in areas including artificial intelligence and data analytics, digital marketing, revenue management, immersive technologies, crowd management, event operations, risk and safety, sustainability and cross-cultural guest services.
The breadth of these requirements reflects the changing nature of Saudi Arabia’s tourism offer, which increasingly encompasses large-scale entertainment, cultural, leisure, religious and destination-development projects.
Salem Al Shahrani, Chief of Staff at the King Salman Gate Project, said tourism destinations require professionals across engineering, infrastructure, hospitality, retail, culture, mobility and technology.
The King Salman Gate project is expected to generate more than 300,000 jobs by 2036, according to the WTM announcement, highlighting the scale of employment opportunities associated with individual destination developments.
Education and industry need closer alignment
For Saudi Arabia’s tourism workforce strategy, one of the central challenges is aligning education and training with the requirements of employers.
The WTM programme placed particular emphasis on connecting universities, training providers, government agencies and tourism businesses so that qualifications translate into employment opportunities and longer-term career progression.
The General Authority for Statistics’ Tourism Establishments Statistics tracks employment in tourism activities across Saudi Arabia and includes data on the characteristics of employees and their contribution to the wider economy. The latest statistical framework covers all 13 administrative regions and is published quarterly.
This provides an increasingly important statistical base as policymakers and businesses assess the development of the tourism workforce alongside visitor growth.
Technology reshapes the tourism workforce
Looking beyond 2030, technology is expected to play a growing role in determining the skills required across Saudi Arabia’s visitor economy.
Artificial intelligence, data analytics, digital guest services, immersive experiences and automated operational systems are becoming increasingly relevant to destination management and visitor engagement.
At the same time, human skills remain central to tourism, particularly in hospitality, cultural interpretation, customer service, events and experiences where personal interaction continues to shape the visitor journey.
The combination of digital capability and traditional tourism expertise is therefore likely to become an important characteristic of the next generation of Saudi tourism professionals.
Opportunity for young Saudi nationals
Danielle Curtis, Regional Portfolio Director – UAE at RX, said the rapid development of destinations, giga-projects, hospitality developments and visitor experiences was creating new opportunities for young Saudis.
She said tourism careers now extend well beyond traditional hospitality positions and that stronger connections between employers, educators and government would be important in developing future leaders and creating clear career pathways.
The emphasis on local talent also fits within the wider objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, under which tourism has become a major component of economic diversification. The Kingdom’s 2025 Vision 2030 annual report records 123 million tourists in 2025, more than 30 million international visitors and a new ambition of 150 million annual visitors by 2030.
WTM Spotlight Riyadh connects global tourism markets
WTM Spotlight Riyadh was created as a platform connecting Saudi Arabia’s tourism industry with international destinations, businesses, investors and travel professionals.
Its wider conference programme covered tourism economics, policy and regulation, outbound travel, luxury tourism, innovation, mobility, sports and religious tourism, as well as talent development and artificial intelligence. The Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Culture were among the Saudi institutions involved in the programme, alongside organisations including Red Sea Global, Qiddiya, Cruise Saudi and the Royal Commission for AlUla.
The event’s focus on human capital reflects a broader transition in Saudi tourism: from building the infrastructure and destinations needed to attract visitors to developing the workforce capable of operating them at scale.
As Saudi Arabia targets 150 million annual visitors by the end of the decade, the development of tourism careers, specialist expertise and local leadership is becoming an increasingly significant part of the Kingdom’s tourism growth story.
