Wednesday, June 26, 2024
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Gloria Guevara Manzo, principal special advisor to the Saudi Arabian Minister of Tourism, has decided to step down from her position. Since May 2021, Manzo has been a key figure at the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Tourism, working closely with Minister Ahmed Al-Khatib as the country embarks on a major transformation of its tourism industry. The Saudi Arabian government is investing heavily, amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars, to bolster the nascent tourism sector, with the aim of attracting 150 million tourists by 2030.
Since Manzo’s term began in 2021, notable changes have taken place.
Last year, the number of international tourists visiting Saudi Arabia jumped from 3.5 million to 27 million. Saudi Arabia has successfully penetrated new tourism markets, particularly China and India, which have quickly risen to the top five supplier countries of tourists. Saudi Arabia plans to add 320,000 new hotel rooms by the end of the decade. The establishment of a new national airline, Riyadh Air, is underway and is expected to begin operations next year. Major tourism initiatives such as the Red Sea Project and Diriyah Gate are currently being launched.
Additionally, Manzo led the Global Center for Sustainable Tourism, a Saudi Arabian government initiative that advocates for the global tourism sector to move toward net-zero emissions.
Prior to her role in Saudi Arabia, Manzo served as CEO and Chairman of the World Travel and Tourism Council for four years, where she was the first woman to hold that role, and also served as Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism from 2010 to 2012 and as a special adviser for government relations at the Center for Health and the Global Environment, part of the Harvard School of Public Health.
His successor as special adviser to the Ministry of Tourism has yet to be announced.
