Having spent nearly three decades in travel, 2025 stands out for learnings that mirror our industry’s constant evolution. I’ve travelled widely to share AlUla with new audiences and to showcase how our organisation has grown from strength to strength and is entering a new phase of progress.
The message I’ve emphasised – one that’s timely for our industry – is that growth demands both volume and purpose. To calibrate that balance, we prioritised understanding our audience. A proprietary survey of 26,000 people across priority markets found 71 per cent seek culturally immersive experiences, 70 per cent want history and heritage, 64 pr cent value contemporary and traditional art, and 64 per cent seek wellness inspired by nature.
These motivations confirm our trajectory and sharpen our focus: AlUla’s audience is high-value, curious and motivated by meaning. We also see clear momentum across the globe. Cultural tourism accounts for approximately 40 per cent of all tourism activity worldwide, according to UNESCO and UN Tourism. Traveller behaviour mirrors these trends, with four out of 10 tourists choosing their destination based on its cultural offer.
Meanwhile, Booking.com’s Travel & Sustainability Report shows 93 per cent of travellers want to make more sustainable travel choices, and experiential luxury continues to gain share in high-end travel. Our own research matches these shifts, with rising interest in wellness, adventure, nature, “calmcations” and revitalisation, especially in India and the GCC, where more than 60 per cent cite an emotional reset as central to decisions.
With all that we know, our lesson this year was to return to the roots of AlUla and elevate what already makes it singular: an extraordinary natural landscape, 200,000 years of history with 7,000 years of continuous civilisation, and a year-round calendar of immersive events found nowhere else.
Our destination remains premium and luxurious, built around authenticity, culture and a strong commitment to sustainability and community. Our light-touch tourism model is low-volume and high-value, targeting two million visitors annually by 2035 while protecting what makes AlUla rare and special.
In AlUla, wellness is a defining expression of the destination. Protected environments, Dark Sky Parks and heritage-rich landscapes shape programming that is restorative and real. Investors enter a destination anchored in authenticity and tangible assets: Sharaan National Park and five other protected areas, a 20-kilometre regenerative oasis, and large-scale rewilding and heritage rehabilitation; living proof of comprehensive development that delivers sustainability ROI and community value.
This year, we move confidently into a more impactful phase of development. Phase 1 delivered over 1,000 hotel keys and created more than 6,000 jobs. Phase 2 opens SAR41bn in private-sector participation, including SAR 6.5bn dedicated to tourism. From the outset, our strategy has aligned with Vision 2030’s ambition to raise tourism’s contribution to GDP from 3 per cent to 10 per cent and create 1.6 million jobs, proving that growth and preservation can reinforce one another.
Stewardship sits at the heart of our approach. We are advancing responsible development with measurable impact, protecting biodiversity, conserving heritage, reducing environmental footprints and creating quality local jobs, so that AlUla thrives for generations.
We achieve this through partnership. Culture institutions, hospitality brands, environmental organisations, investors and our communities work together to co-create experiences, build capacity and share value.
Looking to 2026, our outlook is strong. We are expanding wellness-first programming rooted in nature, enriching culturally immersive experiences and welcoming mission-aligned partners to help us scale responsibly. Above all, we will steward AlUla by listening to our communities, proving impact and serving global travellers who value meaning over mass.
