RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is attracting strong global interest in its business events sector as the MICE — meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions — industry across the Middle East and North Africa is set for major expansion, reaching $100 billion by 2035, according to Dr. Emad Mahmoud Monshi, chairman of the Saudi Tourism Society.
Speaking to Arab News on the second day of the International MICE Summit in Riyadh on Thursday, Monshi — also an assistant professor of event and tourism management at King Saud University — said the Kingdom’s MICE momentum is being driven by government support, major infrastructure investments, its strategic location, and an expanding calendar of international events, including Expo 2030 and the FIFA World Cup in 2034.
“As the leaders converged here for this summit amid ongoing transformation under Vision 2030, they emphasized the high level of interest in Saudi Arabia’s business events sector,” said Monshi, who also served as a panelist.
He added: “Based on the latest reports, the MICE industry in the MENA region will reach $100.3 billion by 2035. Saudi Arabia is one of the top three destinations in the MENA region.”
Monshi noted that growing government involvement continues to strengthen the sector. “Supported by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Ministry of Tourism and many other government organizations, the stakeholders are trying to push, and have a larger stake, for Saudi Arabia,” he said.
He highlighted sharp growth across multiple fields — including defense, health and technology — with Riyadh now hosting flagship events such as the Future Investment Initiative, Misk Forum, Global Cybersecurity Forum, LEAP, World Health Expo, World Defense Show, UN Tourism General Assembly, TOURISE Global Summit and World Industry Summit.
“Today we are here at the IMS2025. This MICE summit is an amazing opportunity for MICE leaders from around the world, to make connections, and build partnerships. Saudi Arabia is in the right direction for the growth of this industry,” he said.
Monshi said it is equally important to keep pace with new challenges, including the accelerating impact of AI on the events landscape.
“On Wednesday we had over eight sessions. Today we have eight sessions on different topics, for example, on innovation, AI and human resources development. It’s needed to meet the requirements amid rapid changes in the industry and to understand each other, what the public needs, and how public and the private sectors can help support each other to grow the industry,” he said.
Discussing opportunities for academic institutions such as KSU amid the sector’s expansion, he said: “This is indeed a big opportunity for us. The KSU Tourism College runs several programs — the tourism and hotel management department, the heritage management department, and the archeology department. We offer the bachelor degree for tourism and hospitality, and a master degree, executive master degree for tourism and hospitality. We are privileged to have around five professors with event management Ph.D, which are very unique, and rare to have people specializing in this field.”
He added that KSU graduates are increasingly securing roles in the market. “Our graduates are getting placed in the market, and are doing good. We have internships for them within the event companies working here in the industry. And, hopefully we can have a positive impact on the MICE industry,” he said.
