Saudi Arabia hosted 98,053,017 pilgrims across fifty Hajj seasons from 1390 to 1439 AH, with 54.4 million of them in the last 25 years of that period and 19 seasons exceeding 2 million pilgrims. The 1447 AH season drew 1,707,301 pilgrims, of whom 1,546,655 came from abroad and 160,646 from inside the Kingdom, with 1,485,729 arriving by air, 54,429 by land and 6,497 by sea.
Arrivals are mostly international, so an airline planner adding Saudi capacity should schedule around the 1.5M who come from abroad rather than the 160K who do not.
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Twenty kilometres at Khafji
The Public Investment Fund launched Gulf Coast Development to build an integrated tourism and residential destination at Al-Khafji covering approximately 20 square kilometres with 10 kilometres of Arabian Gulf waterfront. The plan runs to 8 residential neighbourhoods, more than 16,000 housing units and around 1,400 hotel keys across 3 main phases, with 3 neighbourhoods in the first phase completing in 2030, plus public, commercial, tourism and educational facilities and boat marinas, targeting visitors from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the wider Gulf.
This project is based on 16,000 homes instead of 1,400 hotel rooms. If you are selling here, focus on residential supply and Kuwaiti buyers from abroad, not on hospitality procurement.
Al Rajhi tops SR13.7bn
H1 bank profits: Al Rajhi SR13.76bn (+14.15%, highest of any lender), SNB SR13.02bn, Riyad SR5.26bn, Alinma SR3.27bn; total credit a record SR3.2tn, +16.2% YoY
The takeaway: Al Rajhi out-earned every bank and grew fastest; scale and speed together are rare, worth studying.
Medevac by the Dozen
PIF's Helicopter Co. ordered 8 more H145S under a 120-aircraft framework, expanding EMS alongside a 60+ fleet
The takeaway: air-medical response is scaling, and response-time assumptions just changed for healthcare logistics and insurers
