Saudi Arabia opened to international tourism in 2019 and launched the Saudi Tourism Authority in June 2020. Recognizing North America as a critical travel market, the destination sought highly experienced marketers to generate brand awareness and introduce Saudi Arabia’s tourism product to the U.S. travel trade. Saudi Tourism’s overall goals were to increase visitation and spend from U.S. travelers to support Saudi Arabia’s 2030 Economic Vision plan, establish a positive and consistent narrative of the destination for travel professionals, and position the country as a growing world-class leader for sustainability and infrastructure.
Client
Saudi Tourism Authority
Industry
Tourism
Services
Travel Trade & Product Development (Tourism)
The Solution
PTG Consulting developed and implemented an integrated sales and marketing strategy to promote Saudi Arabia among the U.S. travel trade industry and accelerate its entry into the market through establishment of strategic partnership agreements with key travel trade organizations to grow tourism product availability. PTG Consulting first conducted a comprehensive competitive destination audit that identified 127 tour operators selling Middle East and North African (MENA) destinations across the U.S. and Canada, which allowed the team to define a strategic outreach plan for desired product development. PTG Consulting endeavored to increase visitor arrivals by engaging with travel agent consortia, associations, tour operators, and airlines and placing focus on luxury leisure, adventure, and Umrah (spiritual) travel.
The Results
Six months into its engagement with the Saudi Tourism Authority, PTG Consulting established significant results. Key highlights include:
Established partnerships with four major consortia – Virtuoso Travel Network, Signature Travel Network, Travel Leaders Group, and Ensemble Travel Group – which included engagement through event sponsorships, email campaigns, targeted advertising, and agreements to research and create marketing products for Saudi Arabia. Combined, these partnerships reached thousands of travel advisors and more than one million consumers across the United States.
Trained a 2,500 travel advisors through 10 educational webinars
Conducted seven familiarization trips hosting more than 100 U.S. travel advisors that specialize in selling MENA and long-haul destinations
Attended and successfully sponsored more than six key industry events, including Virtuoso Travel Week, Travel Leaders EDGE conference, Signature Travel Network Annual Conference, USTOA’s annual conference, and taCONNECT’s Adventure Travel & Expeditions Virtual Roadshow, reaching more than 3,000 travel professionals
1 million+
Consumers reached through consortia partnerships
3,000
Travel professionals reached through travel trade events
2,500
Travel Advisors engaged through webinars
8
Major U.S. tour operators have added Saudi Arabia to their portfolio