AlUla has been officially recognised as a premier global destination after being officially named the World’s Leading Cultural Tourism Project 2025 at the World Travel Awards (WTA) in Bahrain.

A prestigious designation, this win represents the highest accolade in the industry and affirms the success of the Kingdom's ambitious cultural development strategy. The award was secured through a voting process involving international travel experts, senior executives, specialist travel buyers, and established travel agents. The WTA, founded in 1993, is widely recognised as the ultimate benchmark for excellence across the tourism and hospitality sectors.

AlUla via unsplash christie-luke 1

AlUla via unsplash anna-sullivan

The Kingdom's ancient destination of AlUla is home to the first Saudi UNESCO recognised site (Hegra), and the growing number of luxury resorts and hotels in the area have seen the ancient destination becoming increasingly popular with local, regional and international visitors. Over the last number of years, an immense project has been taking place in AlUla, with the aim to transform the 200,000-year-old desert landscape into a sustainable living museum, and now AlUla has now been formally acknowledged as the world’s best by the World Travel Awards.

AlUla via unsplash christie-luke 4

AlUla via unsplash christie-luke 2

This global honour follows a sweep of regional victories for AlUla at the WTA's Middle East edition, confirming the destination's appeal across multiple categories for 2025:

Middle East’s Leading Cultural Tourism Project

Middle East’s Leading Festival and Event Destination

Saudi Arabia’s Leading Cultural Tourism Project

This honour acknowledges the successful blending of meticulous heritage preservation with a contemporary, globally relevant events calendar is central to the RCU’s strategy and underpins AlUla’s recognition as the world leader in cultural tourism development.

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