Skift Global Forum East Video: The Role of Culture and the Arts in Destination Place-Making

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

In this video:

• The 2030 vision for AlULa: An overview of the spectacular ancient site in Saudi Arabia’s northwest Medina region being developed as a “living museum,” an international arts destination, and a burgeoning center of cultural exchange.
• Building a culture of sustainability: How Saudi Arabia is building on AlULa’s heritage roots to embrace local communities, cultures, and traditions, while partnering with regional and international artists to create an environmentally sustainable landmark for arts and culture.
• Developing authentic experiences: Insights into how AlUla is juggling cultural authenticity with its tourism ambitions, balancing bold development plans with the need to create authentic experiences, and functioning as a case study for future developments.

Located along the Incense Route, one of the world’s oldest trade routes, the desert region of AlUla makes up a key piece of the Saudi Kingdom’s bold 2030 tourism vision “to engage artists, build sustainable cultural infrastructure, and engage new audiences.”

In this video from Skift Global Forum East 2022, we hear from said Annette Gibbons-Warren, cultural planning director, Royal Commission for AlUla, and Melanie de Souza, the company’s executive director of destination marketing, in conversation with Kate Irwin, commercial director of the EMEA region at Skift, about how the Commission is embracing local communities, cultures, assets, and partners to transform AlUla into an unprecedented hub for arts and culture.

“We want to ensure that the 46,000 people that call AlUla home are the beneficiaries of this development,” de Souza said. “We want to be true to our legacy and be respectful of natural settings, but also celebrate the very best in art and architecture.”

This content was created collaboratively by AlUla and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX.