Saudi Arabia Emerges as Global Tourism Model at WTTC 2025

• At WTTC 2025, Saudi Arabia underlined the positive tourism impact emphasising digital transformation, education and much more. 
• The number of women in tourism in the KSA has reached almost 50%, which makes the industry a source of sustainable employment.

In a statement, Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al-Khateeb said that Saudi Arabia is a leading global model in the world by offering training and raising women's participation in the tourism sector to almost 50%. While representing Saudi Arabia at the 25th World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit, held in Rome from September 28 to 30, he made the statement.

He added, “The Kingdom is a global model to be emulated, as it has succeeded in providing hundreds of thousands of training opportunities and increasing women's participation in the tourism workforce to nearly 50%. These numbers become even more significant when considering the sector's future projections, as one-third of the new jobs globally to be added by 2035 will come from the travel and tourism sector, making it a unique engine for global economic growth.”

The conference on tourism gathered the top specialists, decision-makers and leaders of the industry from over 70 countries. The Kingdom was the main topic during the summit, demonstrating a global model that has got into the limelight with wins of all kind in the sectors of innovation support, international cooperation facilitation, and worker training and qualification in the tourism field.

Al-Khateeb was present at a number of significant events that took place during the summit over three days. He was present at the launch event of the report “Future of work in travel and tourism” which is a joint work with the WTTC, and also, he took part in the main panel discussion under the title “Connecting continents: Crafting collaborative tourism policies for a more interconnected future.”

While not directly involved in the summit, he accompanied a number of meetings with world leaders from both the public and the private sector. Among these was a roundtable meeting with the chief executives of several prominent private-sector companies.