Saudi Arabia’s cultural heritage at the heart of tourism growth

With international travellers increasingly seeking authentic and varied experiences, Saudi Arabia’s long history is at the heart of its cultural tourism growth.

With the World Heritage site At-Turaif, home of the First House of the Al Saud family and capital of the first Saudi State, at its centre, the Diriyah Gate giga-project is set to attract 27 million visits annually, 7 million of which are from abroad, according to Talal Kensara, Chief Strategic Management Officer at the Diriyah Gate Development Authority (DGDA).

As reported by Arabian Business, Diriyah Gate, located to the north west of the Saudi capital of Riyadh, will be spread over 1400 hectares, a quarter of which will be dedicated to pedestrians. As such, the first phase of implementation has begun with the infrastructure work, which Kensara refers to as “complicated” since a lot of digging is needed to accommodate underground transport structures.

While the overall completion date is set for 2030, Kensara explains that elements of the project will be revealed annually, leading up to that date.

Speaking with Arabian Business at the recent Arabian Travel Market tradeshow, Kensara discussed how Diriyah Gate contributes to developing tourism in Saudi Arabia and harmonises with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. Mixed use urban development based mainly in a cultural heritage experience that has been inspired by the significant history of Diriyah, the birthplace of the kingdom and the capital for the first Saudi state.

Explaining how the project ties in with Saudi’s Vision 2030, Kensara advised “one of the elements in Vision 2030 is celebrating Saudi identity which is what we are doing by celebrating the birthplace of the kingdom and allowing all people to create an emotional connection with Diriyah.

“We Saudis have studied … our history books but we didn’t get to build that emotional connection which comes from experiencing these stories.

“Hospitality is another main pillar of Vision 2030 which is reinforced with Diriyah but the cultural element remains a huge value proposition with our site.”

The development also has significant employment potential, aiming to create 55,000 jobs by 2030.

Here, Kensara explains “we believe that we can achieve this target because of two elements.

“One is hospitality. We will have 38 hotels across the project and we want a lot of Saudis to work in them. This is why we have a scholarship and training programme where Saudis are trained in the different fields of hospitality.

“The second element is culture. Travellers and nationals are really excited by culture and it [cultural tourism] is something we have not really practiced in a professional way for the last forty years. This is evidenced by the high number of Saudi youngsters who are excited to work in the cultural sector be it in the visual, the culinary, museums or the performance arts among others.”

Images: The historic At-Turaif site which will be the centrepiece of the Diriyah Gate development (top) and the concept for Diriyah Gate (below). Credit: DGDA.