Saudi Arabia Uses Davos to Sell Connector Economy Vision With Tourism at the Center

Overview

• Commerce minister Majid Al‑Kassabi said global trade is shifting to a managed, rules‑driven model and pitched Saudi Arabia as a connector economy linking Africa, Europe and Asia through a logistics hub role.
• Tourism minister Ahmed Al‑Khateeb urged treating tourism as economic infrastructure, citing 30 million inbound visitors in 2025, a 150 million target for 2030, nearly 5% direct GDP contribution and over 1 million jobs, alongside UN Tourism’s 2 billion arrivals projection for 2030.
• The Global Innovation Platform launched the Saudi–U.S. Innovation Partnership to accelerate collaboration in life sciences, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing anchored in Riyadh and Austin.
• Communications minister Abdullah Alswaha said the Kingdom is tackling AI’s energy and memory constraints and positioned Saudi Arabia as a partner of choice for accelerating and adopting AI, as Amplifai Health was named a winner in WEF’s MINDS AI initiative.
• Officials highlighted multilateral convening through the Future Minerals Forum, while Saudi House returned to Davos and TOURISE reported convening nearly 10,000 leaders and helping catalyze over $113 billion in tourism investment.