Putting AlUla on the map.

An oasis in Arabia

Nestled in northwest Saudi Arabia, AlUla is a blend of natural beauty and ancient grandeur. Whether people are visiting the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hegra, relaxing in a lush oasis landscape, climbing a stunning rock formation, or experiencing cultural arts installations, AlUla has everything visitors need to create lifelong memories.

AIUIa stands at the heart of a broader transformation within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. All eyes are on the nation as it prepares to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup while reshaping itself into a global leader in both culture and commerce under the government’s Vision 2030 program.

As part of this initiative, the Kingdom established the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) to develop the historic city into a tourism destination of choice. Through the Experience AlUla website, the RCU promotes the beauty of AlUla to travelers around the world and provides visitors with a platform to book luxury hotels, events, tours, and experiences prior to and during their stay.

Influencing travelers through technology

When Nasri Nasr joined the RCU as Head of Digital Transformation & Delivery, he immediately saw the potential to build on the digital transformation already underway and continue to put AlUla on the map . “Growing up, I loved learning how technology worked, but I later became more interested in how technology shapes us,” says Nasr. “Changing designs and technologies can have a big impact on the first impressions people have of AlUla.”

To entice travelers to seek out AlUla over more well-established holiday spots, the RCU needed a modern digital presence that would convey the beauty of the land while also being very reliable and easy to use. While working on its digital strategy, RCU stood up an interim site to build its digital presence and start attracting its first wave of adventurous travelers. Leadership then tasked Nasr with overseeing the implementation of a new platform to build upon initial interest with personalised experiences to encourage more bookings.

RCU chose Adobe Experience Cloud as its digital experience platform. “We were looking for a best-in-breed solution with strong integrations and developer support,” says Nasr. “Forrester, Gartner, and our own evaluations agreed that Adobe Experience Cloud offers a leading platform we could trust to help us create digital experiences that exceed visitor expectations.”

Creating a world-class website experience

Nasr started the digital transformation by migrating the Experience AlUla website onto Adobe Experience Manager Sites as a Cloud Service — making RCU one of the first government agencies to embrace a cloud-first approach in Saudi Arabia.

“By leveraging cloud-based technology through Adobe Experience Manager Sites, we are paving the way for other entities to learn from our experience and reap the benefits of the cloud,” says Nasr.

Working in the cloud provides many advantages. Authors can access new features as soon as they’re released. RCU doesn’t need to invest time and resources on upgrades or maintenance. The website also scales automatically with traffic demands, meaning that visitors never have to deal with slow connections. While data security is of paramount importance in Saudi Arabia, RCU demonstrated compliance with data residency laws by hosting data locally.

With the new Experience AlUla website, visitors can read about experiences, tours, festivals, and events and book them seamlessly on the same site. Keeping the site current is a high priority. With the system’s user-friendly interface and reusable components, digital teams can easily add new content — such as writing about upcoming events, new hotel openings or organising experiences such as Ramadan tours. The frequent updates and more reliable performance have visitors flocking to the replatformed site, leading to an 8.5X uplift in website visits, with a 23% year-over-year decrease in the bounce rate. Not only are website sessions up 30% year-over-year, but visitors are also staying onsite 44% longer, indicating that the content is relevant and meets their needs.

“We’re seeing a significant uplift in bookings through the website, with a 220% year-over-year increase to our conversion rate since migrating to Adobe Experience Manager Sites as a Cloud Service,” says Nasr. “It demonstrates that we’re well on our way to transforming AlUla into a global destination.”

When AlUla held its annual AlUla World Archaeology Summit and Symposium (AWAS), RCU customised existing components and created an entirely new website for the event in just a few weeks — something that might have taken months to build from scratch. RCU is also now able to reuse website content on its mobile app, encouraging more frequent updates and greater app engagement. This investment boosted bookings for AlUla experiences significantly, with 240% higher revenue compared to the previous year.

Revitalising the spirit in AlUla

As an up-and-coming travel destination, RCU is working to introduce global audiences to the best that AlUla has to offer through its five pillars of experiences: arts and culture, history and heritage, adventure, nature, and wellness. While the full website is only available in English and Arabic, RCU wanted to extend its appeal to a broader audience. It launched a global campaign with custom microsites for nine markets in five languages. It serves slightly different content depending on visitors’ locations, such as visa requirements, package options and travel agencies, plus interesting cultural nuances relevant to their home countries. Adobe Target also powers its A/B testing to deliver the most engaging content, inspiring visitors to book their next trip to the city.

Dynamically delivering personalised content made a big impact in connecting with global travelers. RCU saw a 72% increase in view-through rates and a 46% increase in click-through rates. RCU is also delivering this level of personalisation via email using Adobe Campaign, sending regional visitors push notifications and sharing relevant updates, promotions, and travel information to help ensure that visitors are well-informed and engaged throughout their customer journey.

While RCU currently personalises the website by location, Nasr wants to begin targeting travelers based on their specific pillar of interest and to consolidate and harness traveler data. Nasr also hopes to incorporate creative innovations and AI tools, to help authors quickly create videos, websites, and campaigns that drive excitement and anticipation to visit AlUla.

Doing more with Adobe

RCU accelerated its transformation by partnering with Adobe Ultimate Success. This team of experts provided proactive strategic and technical support during implementation, from reviewing the environment and recommending best practices to organising workshops that helped RCU teams get up to speed faster. Experts in Experience Manager Sites, Target, and Campaign provided insights while reviewing and troubleshooting the environment, reducing issues, and getting RCU started on the right foot. The Ultimate Success team also helped develop key use cases, establishing governance to deliver early wins, and boosting confidence in how RCU approaches its digital transformation.

“The Adobe Ultimate Success team has probably been the most supportive team that I’ve ever worked with,” says Nasr. “They’re not just reacting to our problems. They’re proactively reaching out to connect us with experts and make sure that we’re getting everything we need to set ourselves up for success.”

From Arabia to the world

While the global tourism industry in AlUla may be gathering momentum, the city itself boasts beauty, history, and culture that goes back thousands of years. Nasr believes it’s only a matter of time before this jewel in the desert becomes a tourism leader in the region.

AlUla has already become a shining example of preserving cultural heritage in the face of rapid digital transformation. Often referred to as Saudi Arabia’s “crown jewel” of tourism, it has found a unique ability to continuously evolve while staying true to its roots — a place that is forever revitalising, and where heritage and innovation move forward together.

“It doesn’t matter what you’re interested in — AlUla has it all,” says Nasr. “By embracing cutting-edge digital technology, we’re igniting a love for our heritage across the world, whilst providing new opportunities for prosperity throughout our region.”