“Travel and tourism builds diversified and resilient economies”: Saudi Arabia Minister of Tourism, His Excellency Ahmed Al-Khateeb, tells World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos
24.1.2025 20:59:00 CET | Business Wire | Press release
Official Travel & Tourism sessions were prominently featured on the WEF agenda, with global leaders unpacking the transformative power of the sector. His Excellency urged global leaders to give the sector the attention it deserves to catalyze sustainable, cross-border, multi-sector economic growth.
The Travel and Tourism sector’s essential contribution to shaping the global landscape was underscored at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos this week with His Excellency Ahmed A. Al-Khateeb, Saudi Arabia Minister of Tourism, urging world leaders to provide the industry with the focus and collaborative solutions it deserves.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250124536028/en/
Saudi Minister of Tourism, His Excellency Ahmed A. Al-Khateeb put travel and tourism on the global agenda at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, this week. (Photo: AETOSWire)
Saudi Arabia welcomed nearly 30 million international visitors in 2024 and contributed almost 5% to the Kingdom’s GDP. In dedicated WEF sessions on travel and tourism, His Excellency, who attended Davos as part of the official Saudi Arabia WEF Delegation, highlighted the Kingdom’s unprecedented growth rates. He stressed the critical role that tourism has in building diversified and resilient economies, emphasizing that when Saudi Vision 2030 unlocked the travel and tourism sector, the Kingdom began building a holistic tourism experience based on international collaboration, best practices, and sustainable development.
As the WEF Annual Meeting concluded, His Excellency noted that the world was watching the remarkable resurgence of tourism, with the industry now fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels with 1.4 billion international arrivals in 2024.
“The world is counting on us to build a vibrant tourism ecosystem that meets growing demand while safeguarding our planet and quality of life. Tourism is more than an industry - it is a transformative force. We need to foster collective action to balance economic growth in the industry with social and environmental responsibility and ensuring the sector's resilience,” His Excellency said.
Throughout the forum, His Excellency led discussions as a key voice on official WEF panels including "Travel and Tourism’s Role in Building Trust” and "The Way We Will Travel”, focused on mobilizing diversified sector growth and enhancing global collaboration to propel the travel and tourism sector to keep up with growing demand, as well as a high-level session at Saudi House that explored “Scaling Sustainable Tourism: Connecting People and Places.”
He shared the stage with distinguished leaders, including Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama, European Commissioner for Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Switzerland Tourism CEO Martin Nydegger and Trip.com CEO Jane Sun who all shared His Excellency’s sentiment on the need for further global collaboration.
In alignment with Saudi Arabia’s forward-thinking tourism strategy, the Ministry launched a new investment guide, the "Hospitality Investor White Paper" during the WEF Annual Meeting. This initiative supports Vision 2030's ambitious targets, aiming to attract more than SAR 40 billion (USD 11 billion) in private investments, contribute SAR 16 billion (USD 4 billion) to the GDP, and create 1.6 million jobs by 2030.
Minister Al-Khateeb also contributed expert insights to the WEF’s "The Future of Travel and Tourism: Embracing Sustainable and Inclusive Growth” briefing paper highlighting the growing demand for sustainable travel and the importance of cross-sector collaboration and the need to ensure local communities globally benefit from the resulting growth.
As the WEF Annual Meeting concludes, Minister Al-Khateeb's participation underscores Saudi Arabia's transformative role in reshaping the global tourism landscape, reinforcing the Kingdom's vision to establish itself as a leading hub for sustainable travel.
*Source: AETOSWire
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250124536028/en/
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Redslim expands into Asia-Pacific to support global brands with data and AI infrastructure12.3.2026 07:00:00 CET | Press release
Redslim, a specialist in end-to-end data management solutions and an Astorg portfolio company, today announced its expansion into the Asia-Pacific region and the appointment of Kyriakos Zannikos as Regional Director, APAC. The move marks an important milestone in Redslim’s global growth strategy and brings the company closer to clients operating in one of the world’s fastest-growing and most data-driven consumer markets. As global consumer brands accelerate digital transformation and AI adoption, many organizations still struggle with fragmented data ecosystems spanning multiple agencies, markets and datasets. These challenges are particularly pronounced in Asia-Pacific, where diverse market structures and rapid growth create complex data environments. Redslim helps organizations transform fragmented market information into valuable data assets, empowering clients to make confident decisions and unlock the full value of their data. By building strong data foundations, Redslim supports
Meiji Seika Pharma Initiates Phase I Clinical Trial in Australia Evaluating ME3241, an Anti-PD-1 Agonist Antibody Discovered Through Collaborative Research With FBRI12.3.2026 07:00:00 CET | Press release
Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President and Representative Director: Toshiaki Nagasato) announced today that it has initiated a Phase I clinical trial of ME3241 (development code), an anti-PD-1 agonist monoclonal antibody discovered through collaborative research with the Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation at Kobe (Headquarters: Kobe, Japan; President: Shuh Narumiya; hereinafter “FBRI”). The Phase I clinical trial is designed as a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study, with the objective of evaluating the safety and tolerability of ME3241 following single and multiple dosing, as well as its pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT07422207). ME3241 was discovered through a collaborative research program led by Program Director Tasuku Honjo, a professor emeritus at Kyoto University. PD-1 is a molecule expressed on activated T cells and other lymphocytes that suppresses immune responses. Through this re
Andersen Consulting styrker sin platform med samarbejdsvirksomheden Ambit Iberia12.3.2026 05:55:00 CET | Pressemeddelelse
Andersen Consulting udvider sine kompetencer inden for teknologi og forretningstransformation gennem en samarbejdsaftale med Ambit Iberia, et konsulentfirma, der specialiserer sig i digitale og regulatoriske løsninger til life science-sektoren. Ambit Iberia, der blev stiftet i 2003, har hovedsæde i Spanien og leverer integrerede løsninger inden for rådgivning, teknologi og rekruttering til medicinal-, bioteknologi- og medtechvirksomheder. Virksomheden hjælper kunder med at opfylde skiftende standarder for kvalitet, compliance og lovgivning gennem ydelser, der spænder over regulatoriske anliggender, dataintegritet, validering af it-systemer og digital transformation. Med mere end 20 års brancheerfaring tilbyder Ambit Iberia også ydelser inden for human capital og executive search, der forbinder organisationer med specialiserede fagfolk og topledertalenter, hvilket øger effektiviteten og fremmer bæredygtig vækst i et stærkt reguleret miljø. "Vores fokus har altid været at levere speciali
EIG’s MidOcean Energy to Acquire Additional Gorgon LNG Interest from JERA; Parties Explore Strategic Alliance12.3.2026 03:14:00 CET | Press release
Transaction increases MidOcean’s equity exposure to premier Australian LNG project Adds incremental uncontracted LNG volumes, enhancing portfolio optimization and marketing flexibility Planning future collaborations, exploring further transactions and opportunities with JERA across other assets globally with the aim of creating a future strategic alliance MidOcean Energy (“MidOcean”), a liquefied natural gas (LNG) company formed and managed by EIG, today announced it has entered into definitive agreements with JERA Co., Inc. (“JERA”) to acquire JERA Gorgon Pty Ltd, which holds JERA’s 0.417% interest in the Gorgon LNG project. MidOcean is an existing participant in the Gorgon LNG project, and this transaction increases MidOcean’s interest in Gorgon to 1.417%. The transaction perimeter also includes JERA’s 0.735% interest in the Ichthys LNG project. Subject to the satisfaction of relevant conditions precedent, the interests in Gorgon and Ichthys will be sold to MidOcean, and then the Ich
DCX Launches Comprehensive ECDU Portfolio – Enterprise-Class Coolant Distribution Units From 600 kW to 2.6 MW11.3.2026 16:34:00 CET | Press release
DCX Liquid Cooling Systems today unveiled its new ECDU (Enterprise Coolant Distribution Unit) platform, a family of three purpose-built CDU models that deliver real cooling capacities from 600 kW to 2.6 MW in industry-standard rack and in-row footprints. The portfolio has been engineered specifically for the accelerating transition to direct-to-chip liquid cooling in high-density enterprise, colocation, cloud, and hyperscale AI environments where thermal stability, uptime, and cost-efficiency are non-negotiable. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260311214891/en/ DCX ECDU, the new generation of Enterprise Coolant Distribution Units dedicated to HPC and AI deployments. The lineup consists of: Enterprise ECDU 1380/2600 V1 - Delivers 1.38–2.6 MW of actual cooling capacity (based on real-world secondary-loop conditions). Single-pump configuration reaches flow rates up to 3,333 liters per minute (lpm). Mission Critica
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom