Middle East & Africa · Desert & heritage landscape
AlUla
A 22,561 km² county in north-west Saudi Arabia, home to Hegra and run by a royal commission under a heritage and tourism masterplan to 2035.
Affiliation disclosure at the end of this page.
AlUla is a county of 22,561 km² in north-west Saudi Arabia 2, a desert landscape of canyons and valleys 12. It contains Hegra, inscribed in 2008 as the country's first World Heritage property 1, and since July 2017 it has been governed for heritage and tourism purposes by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), established by royal decree 4.
What distinguishes AlUla is scale. Rather than managing a single site, the RCU's 2021 Journey Through Time masterplan treats the whole county as one project, with five heritage districts, new cultural institutions, a tram and a commitment to designate 80% of the county as nature reserves, in three phases to 2035 23. The plans are detailed and public. Published outcomes are fewer and mostly first-party: visitor numbers reached about 320,000 in 2025 8, against an original 2035 target of two million 2. The clearest independent marker so far is the admission of Sharaan Nature Reserve to the IUCN Green List in 2025 11.
Geography and cultural context
AlUla's historical core runs for about 20 km along a valley that the masterplan divides into five districts: AlUla Old Town, Dadan, Jabal Ikmah, Nabataean Horizon and Hegra Historical City 2. The RCU's board is chaired by the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Salman, and its mandate covers developmental plans to preserve the governorate's heritage, with particular attention to tourism 5.
The commission's role extends to land. In December 2025 it lifted a suspension on land sales and property transactions in selected areas of central and southern AlUla, placing the decision within its second masterplan, Path to Prosperity, launched in August 2023 19. A single body holding planning, regulatory and development powers over an area this large means that governance questions matter here as much as conservation ones.
Landscape and ecology
Sharaan Nature Reserve, about 1,540 km² of canyons and valleys 12, was admitted to the IUCN Green List in January 2025, and IUCN described it as AlUla County's first fully protected area 11. The Green List is IUCN's standard for protected areas assessed as effectively managed and fairly governed 12.
Restoration of wildlife is under way but early. In early 2023 the RCU announced the release of 1,580 Arabian and sand gazelles, Arabian oryx and Nubian ibex into Sharaan, Wadi Nakhlah and Al-Gharameel, to be completed by the end of that winter; Arab News then reported six designated reserves in the county 13, while the RCU's 2024 annual report refers to five 6. The Arabian leopard is the emblematic goal: the RCU's breeding programme in Taif recorded six cubs in 2025 14, and a return to the wild in AlUla has been discussed for "as soon as 2030" 13. No leopard release has yet been documented.
Culture and heritage
Hegra is the largest conserved Nabataean site south of Petra, with 111 monumental tombs, 94 of them with decorated façades, dating from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD 1. A Saudi-French mission working there since 2002 has documented a walled town of about 50 hectares, residential quarters built mostly of unfired brick, more than 130 wells and a Roman military camp identified in 2015 16.
The archaeological record extends far beyond Hegra. An aerial survey by the University of Western Australia, funded by the RCU, recorded more than 1,000 mustatils, rectangular stone monuments dated to about 5300–5000 BC 15. AlUla Old Town, a mud-brick settlement inhabited from the 12th century until the 1980s, was closed in 2017 for conservation and reopened to visitors in 2021 17. Much of this research is funded by the RCU itself, which readers should bear in mind when weighing claims of independence.
Communities and livelihoods
The masterplan foresees AlUla's population growing to 130,000 by 2035 and the creation of 38,000 jobs 23; the RCU's 2024 annual report now cites 40,500 jobs as a target 6. We found no published data on progress towards either figure.
Independent evidence on residents' views is limited. A 2021 master's dissertation based on interviews with 16 people, mostly local business owners and managers, found tourism welcomed for employment and income but also concern about cultural erosion and excessive development 18. In 2024 the RCU and Slow Food established AlUla's first Slow Food Community, bringing together farmers, small producers, women in family businesses, cooks and guides around the Cultural Oasis 4. The views of farming families, former Old Town residents and women are largely absent from the sources we could find.
Tourism model and development
The Journey Through Time masterplan, launched on 7 April 2021, set targets of two million visitors a year and a SAR 120 billion contribution to GDP by 2035, in three phases 23. The RCU's 2024 annual report sets a first-phase goal of 250,000 visits a year 6.
Reported results: 286,000 visitors in 2024, 72% of them Saudi 7; more than 240,000 by the third quarter of 2025, with average spending of about SAR 2,100 against a SAR 1,400 target, according to the 2026 national budget statement 10; and 320,000 for 2025 as a whole 8. In October 2025 Semafor reported that the RCU planned to keep visitor numbers to no more than one million a year by 2030 9; in June 2026 the RCU's chief tourism officer, Phillip Jones, put capacity at about 1,000 hotel keys in seven hotels, rising to nearly 3,000 by 2030, and said regional uncertainty had slowed some projects 8.
Initiatives and their evidence
| Initiative | Led by | What it is | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journey Through Time masterplan | Royal Commission for AlUla | A 15-year, three-phase plan to 2035 covering five heritage districts, 15 cultural assets, a tram and nature reserves across 80% of the county. Visitor targets have since been restated at a lower level for 2030.2369 | In progress |
| Sharaan Nature Reserve (IUCN Green List) | Royal Commission for AlUla | About 1,540 km² of canyons and valleys, admitted to the IUCN Green List in January 2025 after independent assessment of its management and governance.1112 | Verified |
| Native species reintroduction | Royal Commission for AlUla | Planned release of 1,580 gazelles, oryx and ibex into three reserves, announced in early 2023 for completion by the end of that winter, reported by Arab News from RCU information.13 | Announced |
| Arabian Leopard Conservation and Breeding Programme | Royal Commission for AlUla | Captive breeding in Taif, with six cubs recorded in 2025; release into AlUla is a stated long-term aim.1413 | In progress |
| Slow Food Community AlUla | Royal Commission for AlUla and Slow Food | A community of farmers, small producers, cooks and guides set up in 2024, with a planned culinary centre in the Cultural Oasis.4 | Announced |
| Kingdoms Institute | Royal Commission for AlUla | Announced in 2021 as a global hub for archaeological knowledge and research; we found no published opening date.2 | Announced |
Challenges
- Reported visitor numbers (about 320,000 in 2025) remain far below the original 2035 target of two million, and the target itself has been restated.
- Much of the archaeological and analytical work on AlUla is commissioned or funded by the RCU, limiting genuinely independent evaluation.
- Residents' voices, particularly farming families and former Old Town residents, are scarcely represented in published sources.
- Leopard reintroduction depends on a captive programme that has not yet released animals into AlUla.
Open questions
- What progress has been made towards the masterplan's population (130,000) and jobs (38,000–40,500) targets, and how much employment goes to AlUla residents?
- How were landholders affected by the suspension of land sales, and on what terms has it been lifted?
- When will the Kingdoms Institute open, and will its research be published independently?
- How many nature reserves are formally designated, and what share of the county do they cover today?
Further reading
The Regenera Luxury Magazine · affiliated with this publication
From giga projects to giving backAn auditor’s view on what Saudi Arabia’s large tourism projects must prove to be called regenerative
Sources
- 1Hegra Archaeological Site (al-Hijr / Madāʾin Ṣāliḥ) — UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Independent
- 2The Journey Through Time masterplan (RCU press release) — Royal Commission for AlUla via Kyodo News PR Wire, 8 April 2021. First-party
- 3Saudi Crown Prince Launches 'The Journey Through Time' Masterplan for AlUla — Asharq Al-Awsat, 7 April 2021. Media
- 4Royal Commission for AlUla and Slow Food partner to promote sustainable agriculture and local culinary traditions — Slow Food, 21 October 2024. NGO
- 5Royal Commission for AlUla — Saudipedia. Media
- 6Annual Report 2024 — Royal Commission for AlUla. First-party
- 7AlUla expects record tourism in 2026 after marketing push — AGBI (Arabian Gulf Business Insight). Media
- 8AlUla Is Tripling Its Hotel Rooms to Chase 1 Million Visitors by 2030 — Skift, 23 June 2026. Media
- 9AlUla aims for luxury growth, not mass tourism — Semafor, 24 October 2025. Media
- 10Average tourist spending in AlUla surpasses target at SAR 2,100: 2026 Budget — Argaam, 2 December 2025. Media
- 112025 kicks off with growth: four new sites added to IUCN Green List and three relisted — IUCN, 13 January 2025. Independent
- 12IUCN ROWA celebrates inclusion of seven new sites from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and UAE — IUCN Regional Office for West Asia, 10 January 2025. Independent
- 13Arabian Leopard Day: Release of oryx, gazelles and ibex paves way for big cat's return to AlUla — Arab News, 9 February 2023. Media
- 14The Global Fund for the Arabian Leopard (fact sheet) — Royal Commission for AlUla. First-party
- 15Arabia's mustatils identified as the earliest monumental landscape — The Past. Media
- 16Hegra — Ministère de la Culture (France) – Archéologie. Government
- 17Saudi Arabia: AlUla Old Town reopens to visitors after restoration — Gulf News, 8 March 2021. Media
- 18The impacts of tourism development at the Al-Hijr UNESCO World Heritage Site (Saudi Arabia) on local communities (Master of Tourism and Events dissertation, A. Alahmadi) — Flinders University, 1 January 2021. Academic
- 19Suspension of land sales to support sustainable development in AlUla (lifted) — Royal Commission for AlUla, 30 December 2025. First-party