Saudi Tourism’s CEO Fahd Hamidaddin made his debut at Cannes Lions to a packed house in the Palais, where he espoused his views on Saudi’s creatively driven future economy.
Hamidaddin said: “We are experiencing a transformation which takes Saudi from being oil dependent to becoming a fully diversified hyper-growth economy that sits at the centre of the world – economically, socially and creatively as well”
Nearly 70 per cent of Saudis are under 35 and if you think you know Saudi, think again. Even Saudis living in the country don’t recognise Saudi anymore he said. Saudi’s modernisation has been driven by its young population.
“Young, talented, determined creatives, young women and men, that are willing to take risks, creatives that have not just open minds, and open hearts but open arms for all other worlds creators,” he said.
Hamidaddin went on to profile four women and three men who have started creative businesses in tourism, a small sample size given its spending of close to $1 trillion for Tourism CAPEX projects.
He went on to share cultural developments that have taken place in the Kingdom over the past few years, highlighting the largest electronic festival in the world which attracted more than 600,000 attendees with headline legendary DJ Calvin Harris.
Strikingly, he said that the Kingdom’s approach to tourism is to “analyse the world’s failures, not successes” highlighting problems with over-tourism and failures to protect biodiversity.
While most people think of Saudi as a desert, it also boasts the pristine 2,000 km-long Red Sea. He went on to say sustainability is a big word that everybody talks about but not many do much. Not because of a lack of will and good intention, but because it is difficult, and it comes with a hefty price – particularly for those economies that had previously relied on the extractive industries. He said that Saudi is investing heavily in the area because it believes that eventually, it will be rewarded by the most demanding of travellers.
“One of the biggest challenges that the world is witnessing today is polarisation. It’s okay to have disagreement. But that is different to polarisation. 90 per cent of the world has only visited 10 per cent of the world. For example, when they go to France, most of them only go to Paris. We want to change this so that all of Saudi gets the benefit of tourism and all travellers get to see the beauty of the whole country,” he said.
Hamidaddin then said with a heartfelt close “With open hearts and on behalf of the Saudi people, we welcome you to the heart of Arabia.”
