The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the global Travel & Tourism sector, announces that its 22nd Global Summit will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the end of 2022.

WTTC’s annual Global Summit is the world’s most influential and Travel & Tourism event. Saudi Arabia has been leading a new global approach to ‘redesign tourism’ and this summit in Riyadh will see industry leaders gathering with key government representatives to drive support for the sector’s ongoing recovery, moving it to a more safer, resilient, inclusive and sustainable future.

The event in Saudi Arabia will follow the next highly anticipated Global Summit which is taking place in Manila, Philippines, from 14-16 March 2022.

Speaking from the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO said:

“Since the very beginning, when the pandemic brought international travel to an almost complete standstill, Saudi Arabia has shown its total commitment to our sector, ensuring it has remained at the forefront of the global agenda.

“It has been instrumental in leading the recovery of a sector which is critical to economies, jobs and livelihoods around the world.

“For that we are grateful and want to recognise their incredible efforts by bringing the Global Travel & Tourism sector to the Kingdom next year.”

His Excellency Al Khateeb, Minister for Tourism for Saudi Arabia said:

“I welcome the decision to choose Saudi Arabia as the host country for the next WTTC Global Summit in 2022. This is a critical forum for the private sector and government to come together to redesign tourism for the future, and it is fantastic to hold this event in the Kingdom. This is recognition of Saudi leadership to help the global tourism sector recover, and importantly, become more sustainable. I look forward to welcoming all WTTC Members next year.”

Further details of the WTTC Global Summit in Riyadh will be announced in due course.

To coincide with this announcement, latest research from WTTC shows the Middle Eastern Travel & Tourism sector is set to grow by 27.1% this year ahead of Europe and Latin America.

The research also shows that if governments prioritise Travel & Tourism, jobs in the sector could reach 6.6m in 2022, approaching pre-pandemic levels.