Preparing for Saudi’s Future Tourism

Immersive Learning Experience for Hospitality Leaders

/Government

The client was the Ministry of Saudi Arabia, collaborating as part of the country's Vision 2030 initiative. The project involved hospitality professionals from various luxury brands across Saudi Arabia, aiming to enhance future tourism experiences.

Scope

The project spanned several weeks and involved taking three groups of 20 hospitality professionals from leading luxury brands in Saudi Arabia to China for an immersive learning program. The program was a combination of classroom teaching and experiential learning.

Main Pain Point

The primary challenge was the lack of a customer-centric culture in Saudi Arabia’s hospitality sector, particularly in preparation for the expected influx of international tourists as part of the Vision 2030 tourism strategy. The professionals needed exposure to international best practices and practical insights on improving guest experiences.

About the client

Our Approach

We crafted an immersive learning program that took hospitality professionals out of their comfort zones, putting them in the position of tourists who didn’t speak the local language or understand the culture. This allowed them to experience pain points first-hand while learning how to overcome these challenges.

The Talent Lifecycle: Ensuring professionals understand every step, from recruitment to retention.

Human-Centric Organizational Culture: Building environments that foster employee engagement and customer satisfaction.

Servant Leadership: Developing leadership that puts employee and customer needs at the forefront.

Difficult Conversations: Preparing managers to handle tough dialogues with empathy and confidence.

The classroom teaching component focused on key topics such as:

2025

99%

100%

Likelihood to Recommend score for the overall experience.

Satisfaction with the facilitator

An action plan agreed with the Ministry of Tourism should be implemented.

the
year

Client Testimonial

A huge thank you to the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia for their support and to our incredible instructor Yannick Bouyidou for delivering such an insightful and impactful course. Your guidance has been invaluable, and I am truly grateful for the opportunity to deepen my knowledge and skills in this dynamic field. 🙏

Duty Manager

You really lifted my spirits and made me seriously consider this step as a concrete plan and target that I will reach very soon. Thank you for all your support. I truly appreciate it.

Cluster HR Manager

Key Learnings

01

Experiential learning proved to be one of the most effective ways to drive cultural and service-related insights, especially when preparing professionals for an international audience.

02

The importance of servant leadership was reaffirmed, especially in industries where guest experience directly impacts business success.

03

Cross-cultural exposure is vital for hospitality leaders to develop empathy and a deeper understanding of international tourist needs, particularly in a growing tourism hub like Saudi Arabia.