Private Capital Is Moving Into Saudi Tourism — Their Bets Look Very Different

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is scaling back its direct investment in large-scale tourism projects, and private capital is starting to move in.

Saudi’s Public Investment Fund announced in April that it would reduce capital commitments to large-scale tourism developments — PIF’s governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan said the fund would still “assume the early stage risks” but that private investors were expected to provide execution capital. 

The kingdom reported a 2.4% year-on-year increase in foreign direct investment inflows in the first quarter of 2026 to 26.6 billion Saudi riyals ($7.1 billion), according to the General Authority for Statistics. The Saudi Tourism Ministry said private capital now accounts for around 48% of total tourism investment and 60% of new hotel keys, though neither figure has been independently verified.

Certares, a private equity firm, told Skift it is exploring a public-private partnership for tourism in Saud