Riyadh Season — country's biggest festival
13 million visits to the multi-month festival in 2024-2025
Vibrant Society pillar2 sourcesLast verified 2026-05-18
Hero metric
Riyadh Season attendance
13M
2024-202513 million visits to the multi-month festival in 2024-2025
Publishers include: SPA · Arab News
The Story
Before
Saudi entertainment events at scale were rare before Vision 2030.
Initiative
Riyadh Season was launched as a months-long festival combining concerts, sports, theme parks, food, and cultural programming.
Outcome
The 2024-2025 edition drew 13 million visits, making it one of the largest festival entertainment events worldwide by attendance.
For citizens
A near-permanent fixture on the Saudi cultural calendar. Local and global artists, accessible to citizens at family-friendly venues.
Timeline of Milestones
2019
First Riyadh Season
2025
13M visits in 2024-25 season
Evidence library · 2 primary sources
Sorted by tier, newest first
An entertainment industry, built from zero
89 million visits to events and venues in 2025
89M+
Cinema, reborn from zero
From 0 cinema screens in 2017 to 700+ at 60+ locations across 16 governorates
700+
Saudis employed in entertainment
100,000+ direct jobs in the entertainment sector
100K+
MDLBeast Soundstorm — biggest Saudi music festival
700,000+ attendees at a single multi-day festival
700K+
Initiative attribution: General Entertainment Authority (GEA); Riyadh Season organizing committee. Citizen benefit category: Cultural life.