Inaugural TOURISE Global Summit

Launching a new global platform to shape the future of tourism

TOURISE was conceived as Saudi Arabia’s new flagship global platform, a bold, future-facing initiative designed to redefine how the world comes together to shape the future of tourism. Built as a multi-year, multi-city movement, TOURISE elevates tourism as a central force for economic growth, cultural exchange, and global collaboration across tourism, aviation, mobility, culture, entertainment, sustainability, hospitality, and future technologies.

Immersive, social, cultural, and catalytic by design, TOURISE brings together destination-scale experience design with policy, investment, technology, and culture to move beyond dialogue and deliver tangible outcomes from its very first edition.

The global tourism calendar is crowded with legacy events. TOURISE needed to cut through immediately, establishing itself as a credible, future-facing platform capable of convening global leaders and delivering real-world impact.

The challenge was to launch at scale and sophistication from day one, on a compressed timeline, while aligning governments, investors, private enterprise, global media and cultural leaders around a shared ambition: to accelerate progress towards a future-ready global tourism economy.

A platform designed for action

Developed in close partnership with the Ministry of Tourism and the Saudi Tourism Authority, TOURISE was designed not as a conventional conference, but as a living global platform. Staged across Riyadh from 11-13 November, it convened over 5,000 delegates, including 250 CEOs and ministers, global cultural icons including Sir Richard Branson and Cristiano Ronaldo, from 100+ countries, catalysing 46 announcements, 40 MoUs, over 1,000 meetings, and highlighting $113bn USD in tourism and destination development portfolios.

A format unlike anything the industry has seen

At the heart of TOURISE was a destination-scale experience designed to challenge traditional summit formats. The Innovation Zone was conceived as a living town square – a place for discovery, dialogue, and collaboration – where destinations and major brands, including STC, King Salman International Airport, Qiddiya, and others, showcased future-shaping ideas. In total, 32 global sponsors were integrated across the platform, not as exhibitors, but as active contributors to the experience.

Reimagining the global stage

Three world-class stages hosted 137 speakers across 67 sessions, reframing the global tourism conversation through cinematic design and interactive storytelling. From the immersive, circular Horizon Stage to more intimate formats designed for debate and dialogue, the stages were built to collapse distance between speakers and audiences – encouraging participation, proximity, and new ways of convening global leaders.

Extending the summit into culture and connection

TOURISE moved beyond conference halls into culture, lifestyle, and informal connections. Riyadh’s first beach club experience, developed in collaboration with Nikki Beach, became a social and networking anchor for the summit, hosting DJs, performances, and partner activations with Snap Inc., TikTok, CNN, and Diriyah. Together with the opening night at Qiddiya, these moments reinforced TOURISE as a platform where policy, investment, culture, and human connection converge.

For the audience

TOURISE delivered a highly curated, experience-led summit that replaced passive attendance with meaningful access – connecting global decision-makers, innovators and cultural leaders in environments designed to inspire action.

For the brand

By convening at scale, TOURISE created the conditions for tangible outcomes: policy alignment, cross-sector collaboration, and investment mobilisation. The result was a credible, scalable global platform capable of driving long-term impact across the tourism economy.