AlUla, Saudi Arabia – AlUla’s status as a global hub for culture, heritage, exploration and discovery has been strengthened after it was officially named the World’s Leading Cultural Tourism Project 2025 at this year’s World Travel Awards.

The most prestigious honour at the annual Awards, and the industry’s highest accolade, AlUla won the top title after receiving the most votes from international experts, senior executives, specialist travel buyers, leading tour operators and established travel agents.

Established in 1993, the World Travel Awards celebrate excellence across the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries and are recognised globally as the pinnacle of achievement. The Awards feature numerous highly contested categories, ranging from best hotel, airline, travel experience and more.

AlUla’s latest accolade comes after the ancient city was named as the Middle East's Leading Cultural Tourism Project 2025, Middle East's Leading Festival & Event Destination 2025 and Saudi Arabia's Leading Cultural Tourism Project 2025 at the recent regional edition of the World Travel Awards.

A place where dramatic desert landscapes meet ancient heritage, AlUla is home to some of the region's – and the world’s – most significant cultural landmarks including Hegra, Saudi Arabia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to a collection of remarkably preserved Nabataean tombs.

With a rich story that spans 200,000 years of human history and 7,000 years of continuous civilisation, AlUla's past is brought to life by RCU through a calendar of immersive experiences. Visitors are not only mesmerised by AlUla’s monumental history, but they are also immersed in its natural beauty, world-class hospitality and an unrivalled line-up of cultural events, festivals, art exhibitions, concerts and more that make up the year-round AlUla Moments celebration.

Visit experiencealula.com to learn more.

For further information, please contact:
media@rcu.gov.sa; RCU.Destination@hkstrategies.com

About AlUla:

Located 1,100 km from Riyadh, in North-West Saudi Arabia, AlUla is a place of extraordinary natural and human heritage. The vast area, covering 22,561km², includes a lush oasis valley, towering sandstone mountains and ancient cultural heritage sites dating back thousands of years to when the Lihyan and Nabataean kingdoms reigned.

The most well-known and recognised site in AlUla is Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. A 52-hectare ancient city, Hegra was the principal southern city of the Nabataean Kingdom and is comprised of over 140 well-preserved tombs, many with elaborate facades cut out of the sandstone outcrops surrounding the walled urban settlement.

Current research also suggests Hegra was the most southern outpost of the Roman Empire after the Romans conquered the Nabataeans in 106 CE.

In addition to Hegra, AlUla is also home to ancient Dadan, the capital of the Dadan and Lihyan Kingdoms and considered to be one of the most developed 1st millennium BCE cities of the Arabian Peninsula, and Jabal Ikmah, an open air library of hundreds of inscriptions and writings in many different languages, which has been recently listed on the UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. AlUla Old Town, a labyrinth of more than 900 mudbrick homes developed from at least the 12th century, was selected as one of the World’s Best Tourism Villages in 2022 by the UNWTO.

For more information, please visit: experiencealula.com