Global tourism leaders leave Riyadh’s World Travel & Tourism Council summit with renewed optimism for future of sector

The World Travel & Tourism Council Summit saw 55 Government Ministers, 250 Tourism CEOs and 60 Ambassadors meet in Riyadh

The leaders of the global travel and tourism industry left the Saudi capital of Riyadh and the biggest ever World Travel & Tourism Council Summit last night with a renewed sense of optimism, shared future goals and a stronger commitment to collaborative cross-border strategies to drive a successful future for the sector.

The three-day summit attracted decision makers from every corner of the world as host nation Saudi Arabia hosted 55 Government Ministers, 250 travel and tourism CEOs and 60 ambassadors who were among nearly 3000 delegates from 140 countries. It is the largest gathering of tourism leaders and professionals that the Summit has ever hosted.

The Riyadh Summit had twice the number of delegates as the last major pre-Covid Summit in Seville and nearly three times as many countries represented with 140 compared to over 50 in Seville in 2019.

Closing the Summit, HE Ahmed Al Khateeb, Minister of Tourism, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said:

“This event has been the perfect example of collaboration, of great conversations that have led to meaningful action. I hope you have all experienced the real meaning of Saudi hospitality. In the Kingdom we call hospitality Hafawah. We understand that hospitality has the power to unlock authentic experiences that set us apart.”

Thanking the host nation, Julia Simpson, President and CEO, World Travel & Tourism Council, “The passion, the people, the hospitality we have had has been incredible here in Saudi Arabia. This sector is growing – and it’s going to grow here. This country is going to end up with more visitors than the USA.”

Paul Griffiths is CEO of Dubai Airports International and said: “We are facing a new reality with the urgent need to embed sustainability practices into everything we do. The end product that we should all be striving to achieve is the delight of the customer, usually achieved by ensuring the interface with our products is as brief as possible.”

From a host nation perspective, Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO and Member of the Board at Saudi Tourism Authority said. “The domestic impact and the WTTC committing to $10.5bn is definitely a clear win-win for both Saudi and these businesses that are looking for growth opportunities across the world”

Qusai Al Fakhri, Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Development Fund added: “One of the main aims of our tourism focus is to create jobs and drive GDP. Up to 60% of Saudis are below the age of 35. By their very nature they are digital natives and therefore it makes sense to develop projects with a clear technological dimension.”

The Summit saw a series of MOUs and agreements signed during the Summit and the announcement of new awards. One of those was the new Hafawa, or Hospitality awards that were announced by Saudi Arabia Minister of Tourism HE Ahmed Al-Khateeb. His Excellency also signed formal MOUs with Djibouti Spain Costa Rica and Bahamas to further strengthen Saudi Arabia’s growing international partnerships and collaboration.

The event organisers stated that the Summit had a global impact with over 7 million livestreams of the keynote speeches, panel discussions and presentations.