Saudi Arabia's Creative Economy Enters a New Phase of Growth & Global Expansion

Saudi Arabia’s creative economy enters a new growth phase, driving global expansion across film, fashion, design, and content.

By 2030, Saudi Arabia’s creative economy is expected to account for 3% of the national GDP.

This projection underscores the rapid transition of Saudi Arabia’s creative economy into a more structured, capitalized, and fast-scaling pillar of national development, particularly as the country enters the third phase of Saudi Vision 2030, focused on sustained implementation and maximizing impact.

Building on this momentum, Saudi is increasingly leveraging international partnerships to accelerate capability transfer and ecosystem maturity. A notable example is the UK–Saudi Creative Forum, where stakeholders emphasized the importance of two-way collaboration.

These efforts sit within a broader strategic mandate to develop a coordinated ecosystem, integrating infrastructure, talent development, and financing mechanisms.

Together, they are reinforcing the foundations of Saudi Arabia’s creative economy, positioning it as a gateway for investors looking to set up a business in the Kingdom and capitalize on sustained momentum.

Building a Cultural Infrastructure Base That Supports Long-Term Growth

Saudi Arabia’s investment in cultural infrastructure has already surpassed SAR 81 billion ($21.6 billion) since the launch of Vision 2030. These investments span museums, libraries, art galleries, training institutions, cultural production hubs, and heritage restoration projects.

The Kingdom has also achieved its 2030 target of registering eight heritage sites as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. That includes Jeddah’s Al Balad District, which aims to transform into a global hospitality destination, backed by a $3.6 billion investment scheme.

Large-scale giga-projects, such as Al-Ula and Diriyah, are playing a central role in this transformation, building on the Kingdom’s rich historical and cultural legacy while reimagining it through contemporary development.

As this ecosystem matures, the focus is now shifting from infrastructure buildout to capital deployment and sector-wide investment enablement. In late 2025, the Cultural Development Fund (CDF) unveiled 28 contracts worth over SAR 3 billion ($933 million), including agreements to establish three investment funds, with CDF acting as an anchor investor. Key initiatives include:

• Saudi Film Fund ($100 million): supporting production and strengthening local and international film infrastructure
• Fashion Investment Fund ($80 million): enabling regional designers, sustainable production, and brand development
• Cultural Assets Group Fund ($227 million): focused on visual arts, digital content, and creative technology

These funds reflect a broader shift toward specialized capital deployment and expertise, providing attractive entry points for foreign investors across the board.

The creative economy is increasingly translating into measurable economic impact. In 2023, cultural activities contributed approximately SAR 60 billion to GDP, double pre-2018 levels, highlighting the pace of expansion.

Saudi Arabia’s Creative Economy Is Scaling Across High-Growth Segments

Several verticals within Saudi Arabia’s creative economy are already demonstrating strong traction, reflecting the rapid institutionalization of the sector. The broader entertainment and leisure (E&L) market is projected to expand from $2.98 billion in 2026 to $5.36 billion by 2031, underpinned by large-scale infrastructure rollouts and rising domestic demand.

Within this expanding ecosystem, the film industry is among the biggest beneficiaries, attracting over SAR 3.5 billion in investment, supported by platforms such as the Red Sea International Film Festival, which is helping position the Kingdom as a regional production and co-financing hub. Notably, cinema infrastructure has expanded rapidly to 60 complexes, with ambitions to reach 300 cinemas and 1,000 screens by 2030.

Gaming is emerging as one of the fastest-growing segments, with video gaming alone generating $1 billion in spending. Riyadh is increasingly recognized as a regional gaming hub, benefiting from policy support, a young, tech-savvy population, high digital adoption, and advanced connectivity infrastructure.

The sector is supported by the Saudi Gaming and Esports National Strategy, which targets SAR 50 billion ($13.3 billion) in GDP contribution and the creation of 39,000 jobs by 2030.

Across these verticals, Saudi is not only scaling individual industries but also building an integrated media ecosystem that creates new commercial opportunities across production, localization, distribution, and talent development.

Despite rapid growth, a structural gap persists between industry demand and the available talent pipeline. In response, Saudi is investing in education and training infrastructure, including institutions such as Riyadh University of Arts and Diriyah Art Futures, which focus on interdisciplinary learning, emerging technologies, and creative experimentation.

Riyadh Creative District (RCD): Anchoring the Saudi Creative Ecosystem

At the core of this transformation is the Riyadh Creative District (RCD), a flagship initiative designed to physically anchor the Kingdom’s creative economy. Located within the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), the RCD is designed as a fully integrated ecosystem, bringing together media companies, creative startups, cultural institutions, and global firms.

It aims to foster collaboration across disciplines while acting as a launchpad for new business models, content production, and creative technologies and functions as a strategic platform to attract international talent and embed Saudi Arabia within global creative value chains.