THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY: SPORTS TOURISM •
“Sport is no longer just competition or entertainment; it has become a national strategic priority that contributes directly to the goals of Vision 2030”
As the kingdom prepares to welcome more overseas visitors for major sporting events, it is also cultivating a home-grown audience whose enthusiasm for sport will help sustain demand throughout the year. PLAYING THE LONG GAME Saudi Arabia's investment in sport is often viewed through the lens of the next major tournament or international headline. Yet its longer-term significance lies elsewhere. Sport has become one of the few sectors capable of simultaneously stimulating infrastructure investment, expanding leisure offerings, encouraging domestic travel and attracting international visitors. Few other areas of the visitor economy carry that breadth of influence. That makes sport an unusually effective catalyst for the kingdom's wider tourism ambitions. Rather than developing attractions in isolation, Saudi Arabia is using sport to connect destinations, hospitality, entertainment, culture and outdoor recreation into a more integrated visitor proposition. In doing so, it is helping accelerate the transition from a tourism market built around individual projects to one defined by world-class destinations that attract visitors year-round. Whether that strategy ultimately succeeds will depend less on the number of world-class events Saudi Arabia hosts than on what remains after they have passed. If the venues continue to attract visitors, if domestic participation in sport continues to grow, and if travellers increasingly see the kingdom as a destination for active, experience-led tourism throughout the year, then sport will have achieved something far more enduring than a successful, one- off world tournament. It will have helped lay the foundations for a more mature and resilient tourism economy.
From top: Jewel Stadium Jeddah: Saudi is gearing up to host the FIFA World Cup in 2034 The 45th Dakar Rally, Dammam, 2023; the event has been held in Saudi Arabia for 7 years The AlUla Tour; a five-stage professional cycling event staged every winter
SPOTLIGHT RIYADH | 77
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator