At WTM Spotlight Riyadh 2026, held 8–10 September, a new specialist agency, Saudi Outbound, made its debut. Founded by Dr. Jens Thraenhart, the venture aims to help international tourism boards, hotel groups, cruise lines, and travel companies understand and capture the Saudi outbound market. Dr. Thraenhart opened the event's outbound programming on the Future Stage with a keynote titled “Opening Remarks: The Outbound Opportunity, Forecast 2026-2030,” followed by a report launch from Almosafer CEO Muzzammil Ahussain on Saudi traveler insights and trends.
Saudi Outbound is a venture of Chameleon Strategies, a UN Tourism Affiliate Member founded in 1999. The agency's core premise is that Saudi Arabia is not just another Gulf market. “Most organizations that want to reach Saudi travelers start with a strategy built for the Gulf region as a whole, and that's the first mistake,” said Dr. Thraenhart. “Saudi Arabia is its own market, distinct from the rest of the Gulf, and it's changing faster than almost any other source market we track. It's also not one audience. The market breaks down into segments with different spending power, motivations and travel patterns, and a campaign built for one segment often misses the rest. Vision 2030 has raised what Saudi travelers expect from their own country, and they carry those expectations with them when they go abroad. The destinations getting real results are the ones that plan around all of that, not around a generic Gulf playbook.”
The scale of the opportunity is significant. Saudi Central Bank data shows outbound travel spending reached approximately SAR 110.4 billion (about USD 29.4 billion) in 2025, up 7% year on year. Dr. Fahad Mohammed Alhuqbani, Academic Professor and Researcher at King Saud University, who contributes a foreword to the forthcoming handbook, notes: “We cannot speak of a single type of Saudi traveler, but rather of an increasingly experienced market with diverse interests, motivations and expectations. Saudi outbound tourism should be viewed not merely as a market with potential, but as an evolving market that is likely to play an increasingly important role in global tourism.”
Segmentation and strategy
Saudi Outbound's market analysis categorizes international destinations into four groups based on current demand and growth potential: incumbent destinations (defend share and premiumize), prime challengers (capture demand and scale quickly), emerging opportunities (build awareness and nurture early demand), and niche plays (test before committing significant budget). The firm advises destinations to weight marketing investment accordingly rather than spreading it evenly.
The agency offers three core services: strategic development (market entry strategy, positioning, partnership identification), implementation support (marketing campaigns, digital and social media programs, staff training), and ongoing advisory (market intelligence, campaign performance analysis, partnership management). It also operates the Saudi Outbound Academy, an online training and certification platform for destinations, hotels, attractions, DMCs, and travel companies, and runs the Saudi Outbound Tourism Awards (SOTA), with a 2026 cycle now open for tourism boards, hotel groups, airlines, cruise lines, and attractions.
Dr. Thraenhart is also publishing The Saudi Outbound Travel Opportunity Handbook, based on his time in the Kingdom and more than two decades in international tourism. An executive summary is available at saudioutbound.com, with a waitlist for the full handbook, scheduled for release in Q4 2026.
Dr. Thraenhart's background includes serving as CEO of Chameleon Strategies and as a former advisor to the Saudi Tourism Authority (2024-2026). He first worked in Saudi Arabia's tourism sector in 2012, before the Kingdom opened to international tourism, and has traveled extensively from Riyadh and Jeddah to AlUla, Madinah, and the Aseer region. His earlier roles include CEO of Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., Executive Director of the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office, co-founder of Dragon Trail, and senior positions at Destination Canada and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. He holds a doctorate from Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a master's from Cornell University, and serves as a Board Director of the UN Tourism Affiliate Members Board.
The launch comes as Saudi Arabia's leisure travel boom continues to reshape global tourism dynamics. For destinations looking to tap into this growth, the agency's tailored approach offers a clear alternative to generic Gulf strategies. As Dr. Thraenhart puts it, “The destinations getting real results are the ones that plan around all of that, not around a generic Gulf playbook.”
For more on the broader Saudi travel market, see our coverage of Saudi Arabia's leisure travel boom and the domestic travel spend climb.
