flynas has launched the Saudi Experiences digital platform with the Saudi Tourism Authority, widening access to bookable cultural, adventure and community-based tourism products across Saudi Arabia as the Kingdom accelerates efforts to turn travel into a major non-oil growth engine.The platform gives domestic and overseas travellers a single booking channel for activities, guided tours and integrated tourism packages, while offering local entrepreneurs, artisans and service providers a wider route to market. The launch marks the operational step of an initiative announced at TOURISE25 in Riyadh in November 2025, when flynas outlined plans to connect visitors with tourism experience providers through its website and mobile app.
Saudi Experiences is debuting with more than 150 bookable activities and guided tours across over 15 destinations. The offer ranges from cultural workshops and visits to heritage landmarks to high-energy adventure options, local food experiences, sports activities and community-led encounters. Its interface supports real-time booking, instant confirmation and 10 languages, with multiple payment options aimed at tourists planning trips from outside the Kingdom as well as residents seeking domestic travel products.
Waleed Al-Ahmad, general manager of corporate communications and official spokesperson for flynas, said the platform is built around four pillars: empowering local tourism, showcasing experiences across the Kingdom’s regions, offering flexible booking and creating integrated travel products. The airline plans to expand the service to include event and concert tickets, strengthening its role beyond air transport into packaged tourism and destination services.
The partnership with the Saudi Tourism Authority reflects a broader policy shift in Riyadh, where tourism has moved from a limited religious and domestic travel base to a central component of Vision 2030. The Kingdom recorded about 123 million domestic and inbound tourists in 2025, a rise of around 6 per cent from 2024, with tourism spending reaching about SAR304 billion. Domestic tourism accounted for 93.3 million visitors and SAR127.1 billion in spending, while inbound tourism generated SAR176.6 billion from 29.3 million visitors.
The platform’s focus on bookable experiences also responds to a structural challenge in Saudi tourism: converting rising visitor numbers into wider local economic gains. By placing farms, rural guesthouses, craft workshops, guided heritage tours and outdoor activities on a digital booking system, flynas and STA are seeking to give smaller operators access to the same distribution channels that larger hotels and travel groups already use.
The earlier initiative highlighted experiences such as tours of Islamic history, visits to coffee, mango, date and palm farms with local families, Ardah folk performances, weaving, traditional cloak-making, local cuisine, climbing, diving, dune bashing, fishing, pottery and stays in rural guesthouses. Those offerings point to a deliberate effort to diversify the Kingdom’s tourism image beyond major cities, pilgrimage corridors and luxury coastal developments.
The timing is significant. Saudi Arabia is trying to broaden its visitor base while managing pressure from regional instability, price sensitivity and the need for more mid-market tourism products. Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb has described the sector’s slowdown during the first five months of 2026 as controllable, while also emphasising plans to build more middle-class and upper-middle-class options alongside luxury resorts.
flynas brings scale to the initiative. The carrier operates 156 routes to more than 80 domestic and international destinations in 38 countries, runs more than 2,000 weekly flights and has carried 110 million passengers since its launch in 2007. It aims to reach 165 destinations under its growth plan, giving the Saudi Experiences platform a ready-made travel funnel across the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.
The airline has also been expanding its network as Saudi Arabia develops secondary destinations. Its new Al-Qassim hub, scheduled to begin operations in July 2026, will connect the region with Istanbul, Trabzon, Cairo Sphinx, Abha and Dammam in its first phase. Such routes support the state’s push to move tourism demand beyond Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah into agricultural, heritage and adventure regions.
Topics
Saudi Arabia