Saudi Tourism CEO: Lionel Messi Ad Targets Traveler 'Preconceptions'

12.03.2024 - 12:47 / skift.com / Mark Twain / Dawit Habtemariam / Lionel Messi

In Saudi Arabia’s latest tourism campaign, Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi aims to bust the stereotypes global travelers may have about the kingdom. The campaign emphasizes that Saudi Arabia has a lot to offer and is a welcoming destination, said Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO of the Saudi Tourism Authority.

Saudi has been hyperfocused on cutting its dependence on oil and diversifying its economy. Over the next 10 years, the country plans to invest $1 trillion in its tourism sector and wants to become a global tourist destination.

Hamidaddin spoke with Skift at the ITB Berlin travel trade show last week about growth from European travelers, how the $25 million Messi marketing campaign performed, the kingdom’s dependence on tour operators, and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Skift: How much has tourism to Saudi grown over the last few years? How much has it grown from Europe?

Hamidaddin: In the grand scheme of things, Saudi is simply growing in all markets, all its new destinations. And we’re not starting from scratch. Saudi Arabia receives a lot of inbound travelers for religious travel to Mecca and Medina, so we’re starting on a high base. We have a lot of inbound for business travel. We have a lot of inbound for visits, friends and family.

With a very high base, going at the highest speed of growth five years in a row, that’s definitely a good testament.

We had set a target of a hundred million visits by 2030. Thankfully, we exceeded that a lot earlier. Now we have a new target, 150 million by 2030. [Saudi Arabia’s tourism minister has previously said that would break down as 80 million domestic travelers and 70 million from international destinations.

From Europe, we grew by 67% last year. [Saudi welcomed over 1 million European travelers, officials told Skift. About 775,000 visitors came for leisure.]

Last year, we launched around 20 routes [by air]. This year we’re launching an additional 10 routes to Europe.

Our destinations are opening one resort after the other on a weekly basis. There’s a new opening every week in different cities in Saudi. So we are very bullish when it comes to investment.

And we can’t be but bullish in generating demand, meaning, if you’re doing all the supply and you’re investing $800 billion in creating, offering and developing destinations, you want to make sure you equally invest in demand.

Skift: Saudi Arabia recently launched a “Go Beyond What You Think” tourism campaign featuring Lionel Messi. What struck me was how explicit the campaign was. Messi literally kicked the ball at some criticisms I’ve heard about Saudi Arabia.

Hamidaddin: It’s true. Mark Twain said travel is fatal for prejudice, and that was the starting point. And we talked