Tourism spending, all-time high
Inbound and domestic tourist spending crossed SAR 300B ($81B) in 2025
Thriving Economy pillar2 sourcesLast verified 2026-05-18
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Tourism spending 2025
SAR 300B
2025Inbound and domestic tourist spending crossed SAR 300B ($81B) in 2025
Publishers include: Ministry of Tourism · Arab News
The Story
Before
Tourism was not a meaningful contributor to GDP before 2016 — religious pilgrimage aside.
Initiative
A full tourism stack was built: Ministry, e-Visa, hospitality investment, marketing under Visit Saudi, and giga-projects designed to attract global visitors.
Outcome
Tourism spending crossed SAR 300B in 2025 — the financial counterpart to the 122M visitor count. Saudi is now MENA's tourism revenue leader.
For citizens
Spending creates jobs in hospitality, transport, retail, and entertainment. The new sector employs hundreds of thousands of Saudis directly.
Timeline of Milestones
2019
Saudi opens to global tourists (e-Visa)
2025
Tourism spending crosses SAR 300B
Evidence library · 2 primary sources
Sorted by tier, newest first
Visitors to Saudi
Record-breaking 122 million in 2025
122M
18 million Umrah pilgrims welcomed from abroad
Up 214% since 2022 — and pilgrim satisfaction at 94%
18.03M
Religious tourism's economic footprint
Hajj and Umrah generate ~$12B/year — about 7% of GDP, ~20% of the non-oil economy
~7% GDP
Hajj 2025 pilgrims hosted
1.67 million pilgrims, from 171 countries
1.67M
Initiative attribution: Ministry of Tourism; Saudi Tourism Authority (Visit Saudi); e-Visa program; giga-project tourism (NEOM, AlUla, Red Sea, Diriyah). Citizen benefit category: Economic empowerment.