Dakar Rally Saudi Arabia 2025 kicks off Friday with over 800 competitors

• Over 800 participants are poised for the fierce competition, which runs until January 17 and is organized by the Saudi Automobile & Motorcycle Federation
• . Participants will embark on an adventurous journey through the landscapes of Al Hanakiyah, AlUla, Hail, Al Dawadmi, Riyadh, and Haradh before heading to the last stop in Shubayta

Is AI front and center in the future of Aviation?

• AI can involve itself in modeling new airplane designs against different operational scenarios
• Travel recovery is well established after COVID, but there’s no uniform line of growth across the industry

Pre-Covid travel industry arrival figures are back but venture capital is experiencing delays    

• UN Tourism tracked 1.3 billion global arrivals, up from 975 million a year earlier, near 2019 figures of 1.475 billion
• Greenfield FDI in tourism was under the US$11 billion mark in 2023 below the US$59bn recorded in 2019

Qatar outpaces Saudi Arabia and UAE in tourism growth with 147% surge

• The surge in tourism can be attributed to Qatar's strategic investments in luxury offerings, and a visa-free entry policy for citizens of 102 countries
• Qatar has effectively leveraged high-profile events like the FIFA World Cup to enhance its global tourism profile, alongside significant infrastructure development

Saudi Arabia achieves 73 percent increase in international tourist arrivals: UN report

• According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the Kingdom continued to top the list of G20 countries in the indicators of the growth rate of the number of international tourists
• The Kingdom's various tourist destinations have witnessed a significant rise in international tourist numbers this year, with the number of tourist arrivals reaching 17.5 million

GACA report: Riyadh’s King Khalid Airport ranked best for 15M+ passengers

• Airports are assessed based on 11 operational performance standards, which align with strategic objectives to enhance services and ensure a seamless traveller experience
• GACA categorizes airports for performance evaluation based on annual passenger numbers, ensuring a transparent approach

‘Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector to achieve 150 million visitors by 2030’

• In recent years, Saudi Arabia has invested $800 billion in tourism, and just in the first 6 months of 2024, the country welcomed 60 million tourists, Aradhana Khowala tells TRENDS
• Nearly 50% of those involved with Red Sea Global are locals, which highlights an important shift from the old model of relying on imported, inexpensive labor, she notes

Qantas scraps non-stop UK flight due to Middle East unrest

• The flight, usually a non-stop 17-and-a-half hour journey, will now refuel in Singapore, allowing it to carry a full load of passengers on a route that avoids contested air space
• The region is bracing for a military retaliation from Iran against Israel, following the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian group Hamas

Saudi Arabia leads GCC travel growth to India with a 40% rise in flight searches: report

Saudi bid to host 2034 World Cup positions Kingdom as global center for top sports events

• Saudi topped the UNs’ list for highest growth in international tourist numbers in 2023
• FIFA is set to confirm Saudi Arabia as the host for the 2034 event in December