Saudi Arabia Cuts Vision 2030 Spending and New Tourism CEO Inherits a Mess

Saudi Arabia is changing drivers mid-turbulence. According to Skift, Ageel Alshaibani now leads the tourism authority with the goal of attracting 150 million tourists a year. The catch: the sovereign wealth fund, the PIF, is turning off the tap for the giga projects that were supposed to lure those visitors.

That is no small detail. Those pharaonic schemes (Neom, the Red Sea, Qiddiya) were the visual promise of Vision 2030, the plan to diversify the economy. If money slows, opening dates stretch and marketing loses firepower. Alshaibani is not arriving at a party, he is arriving at a half-built construction site.

My take: this is not a funeral, it is an adjustment. The PIF has reprioritized and tourism gets a CEO who will have to sell humility, not luxury. The opportunity lies in repositioning the offer: fewer megaprojects, more real experiences. Hoteliers and operators that adapt to a leaner Saudi, pushing niche or business travel, will fish in less crowded waters. Read the new map well and you win. Patience and flexibility.