Saudi, the authentic home of Arabia, recently took its dynamic tourism offering on tour with its inaugural in-person India travel trade roadshow, connecting key partners and stakeholders. The roadshow followed Saudi’s first-ever participation in OTM, the gateway to India’s travel markets.

Since opening to leisure tourism in 2019, Saudi has built a competitive offer centered around authentic Arabian culture, rich heritage, unique landscapes and a rapidly expanding entertainment and lifestyle offer. Over the duration of the multi-city roadshow, more than 500 of leading Indian travel trade players were engaged and inspired by the breadth and diversity of the country’s product offering as the world’s must-visit leisure tourism destination. The week-long tour also saw the signing of 14 MoU’s with some of India’s leading regional trade partners.

Saudi has already established a presence in India with local representative offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and is committed to building capacity and demand through improved connectivity, strategic agreements with key partners, and the opening of country-specific DMCs.

“The beauty of Saudi lies in its diversity, authenticity and the warm hospitality of the Saudi people,” said Alhasan Aldabbagh, President – APAC Markets, Saudi Tourism Authority.

“As we work towards achieving our ambitious tourism goals, we are committed to building and solidifying relationships with key partners to help us unlock priority source markets and drive volume and growth. The hosting of our first ever Indian roadshow across four cities and OTM participation created an opportunity for our trade partners to come together to discover the diversity of Saudi’s tourism ecosystem, to enable and empower them to offer an exciting new destination to Indian travelers.”

Home to 6 UNESCO World Heritage sites and more than 10,000 archaeological sites, as well as the mountainous Asir region – which includes Rijal Almaa, voted a UNWTO ‘best tourism village’ in 2021 – and the arts and culture hub of Jeddah, the Saudi tourism ecosystem continues to transform and evolve.

Targeting more than 70 million visitors in 2022, Saudi is building on its 2021 success, with its tourism industry witnessing 121% recovery to pre-pandemic levels. In 2022, the country’s commitment to its tourism development was recognized by the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI), where Saudi gained 10 spots in the global ranking.