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Saudi Arabia’s International Tourism Spending Hits $13.2 Billion in Q1 2025

Prime Highlights

SR49.37 billion foreign tourists’ spending earned in Q1 2025, 10% year-on-year growth.
Surplus derived from tourism at SR26.78 billion, further consolidating tourism in diversification.

Key Facts

115.9 million Saudi visitors in 2024, five years ahead of its 2030 plan.
Tourist spending in aggregate was at SR283.8 billion in 2024, foreign visitors taking up close to 60%.

Key Background

Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector maintains its strong growth in 2025 as Saudi Arabia’s leading pillar of Vision 2030 diversification strategy. Foreign travelers spent SR49.37 billion (approximately $13.2 billion) in the first quarter of the present year, 10% more than the same quarter in the previous year. The travel account surplus balance increased 11.7% year on year to SR26.78 billion, indicating the growing economic contribution of the sector.

This was followed by a sudden surge after a record year in 2024 when there were 115.9 million visitors in Saudi Arabia already surpassing its initial goal of 100 million annual visitors within the year 2030. Foreign travelers were 29.7 million and domestic tourists 86.2 million. The 2030 goal has now been raised by the government to 150 million annual visitors.

Tourist spending in 2024 was a record SR283.8 billion. This comprised SR168.5 billion from international tourists and SR115.3 billion from domestic tourists. These are an eye-watering 148% more in tourist spending in 2019, and the second-fastest growing G20 tourist travel destination was Saudi Arabia.

The growth is credited by the Tourism Ministry to investiture particularly in infrastructure, eased visa regimes, and aggressive marketing in target overseas markets. Domestic tourism is also growing from home travel in 47.8 million in 2019 to over 86 million in 2024. That is to say that the undertaking of taking locals out to see local attractions and other attractions has been worth it.

Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb talked of the “dramatic growth” of the industry and how it assisted in enabling development of a sustainable, non-oil-based economy. The Kingdom is yet to have its tourism product unlocked—beach resorts along Red Sea coastlines and heritage attractions like AlUla—yet Saudi is half-way towards making its dream of being a world-class tourist destination come true.