29.3M international tourists in 2025, up 67% since 2019, highest growth of any OECD member; SR176.6bn foreign spend, SR127.1bn domestic; 5.2% of GDP.
Domestic spend is close behind foreign and growing faster (10%), the Saudi family is the customer you can actually reach this year.
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Saudi carries half of Gulf tourism
Saudi Arabia's travel and tourism sector contributed $178 billion to the economy in 2025, 46% of the entire Middle East's travel and tourism economy, growing 7.4%, nearly double the global rate of 4.1%, with international visitor spending up 8.2% against a 3.2% global rate.
Nearly half of the entire region's tourism economy now lies in Saudi Arabia, growing at twice the global rate, a shift large enough that the map of Middle Eastern travel needs to be redrawn before the guidebooks catch up.
Foreign direct investment tops SR1.1 trillion
Saudi Arabia's foreign direct investment stock reached SR1,122.8 billion at the end of Q1 2026, up 12% year on year and representing about 32% of total foreign investment in the Kingdom, against total foreign investment of SR3,530.8 billion, up 18% year on year.
FDI growing 12% while total foreign investment grew 18% means portfolio and other investment are growing faster than direct investment, hot money is currently outpacing the patient kind.
Ten billion and a December date
AWS is investing $10.3 billion in Saudi Arabia, including $5.3 billion (SAR 19.9 billion) in a cloud region with 3 independent availability zones launching in December 2026, and more than $5 billion in an AI zone with HUMAIN targeting 50 megawatts by 2028 and deploying up to 150,000 AI accelerators. AWS projects $191 billion of economic value from cloud services by 2033, will train 100,000 Saudi nationals including a free programme for 10,000 women, and is integrating curriculum at 11 Saudi universities.
This commitment applies to both general cloud services and AI. If you manage enterprise IT, plan your regular migration for the December launch instead of waiting for an AI project to justify the move.
