Most notable is the event’s collaborative dimension: stakeholders from industries as varied as sports, entertainment, media, transportation, and aviation have been invited to join forces, transcend traditional competition, and create alliances where barriers once existed. That spirit of cooperation is one of the major innovations: the tourism industry ceases to be an isolated sector to integrate into a multisector platform.
Saudi Arabia’s commitment to this summit also responds to a broader goal of economic diversification within the Vision 2030 framework: tourism must stop being a marginal activity and become a main engine of growth, employment, and investment. By hosting initiatives like this, the country strengthens its position not only within the Middle East but also as a leading player on the global tourism stage.
The TOURISE Summit program includes more than 40 panels and over 15 workshops, organized around four major thematic pillars: the challenges facing tourism, growth opportunities, strategic investments, and the development of public policies for the sector’s future. The discussions range from applying artificial intelligence to the traveler experience, to creating disruptive business models and designing high-level sustainable destinations.
For participants, the summit is a unique networking platform: leaders from technology companies such as Google, travel platforms like Expedia, aviation software giants like Amadeus, major hotel groups, and investment funds converge in a single space to design 21st-century tourism. This type of vertical and horizontal collaboration reflects the growing importance of the global traveler experience, smart destinations, and service integration.
The significance of this event will be not only symbolic but tangible: redefining what trip, what destination, and what sector we expect for the coming decades. At a time when travelers demand authenticity, sustainability, and real connections with destinations, the Saudi effort views this trend not as a challenge but as an opportunity to lead. Saudi Arabia signals its intention to respond to this demand: combining luxury and experiential luxury, technology and humanity, diverse audiences and cultural inclusion.
Of course, the challenges behind this ambitious project are significant. Upgrading infrastructure, training local talent, ensuring that benefits reach communities, and protecting the environment are complex tasks that require public-private coordination. At the summit, these issues were addressed with full awareness, underscoring that the tourism to come will be responsible toward both people and the planet.
What is at stake goes far beyond expanding resorts or showcasing attractive destinations: it is a structural shift in the global tourism model. The TOURISE Summit, held in Saudi Arabia, presents itself as the catalyst for that change, calling on the international industry to leave its comfort zone, rethink alliances, innovate business models, and reinvent the way we travel. In an era when tourism is being redefined, the Kingdom offers a new roadmap—and the rest of the world is watching.
