Film Tourism In AlUla: How Cinematic Sets Become Real Destinations

AlUla is strengthening its position in film tourism, as screen productions encourage audiences to visit real locations. Viewers see AlUla’s valleys, rock formations, and heritage sites on screen. Many later travel to explore the same landscapes, turning cinematic exposure into a direct driver of tourism and visitor interest.

Film and television projects now guide travel decisions for many people worldwide. Visual works highlight destinations in a vivid way and draw attention to specific details and scenery. AlUla benefits from this trend, offering visitors trips that combine watching familiar productions and touring the actual sites used during filming.

Recent years have seen strong growth in AlUla’s audiovisual production activity. The governorate hosted 85 projects in 2024, including feature films, reality shows, documentaries, and advertising works. In 2025, 83 other productions followed, among them television programmes, music videos, commercials, short films, and additional documentary titles.

This steady volume of work reflects continuing interest from local and international producers. Each project requires crews, equipment, and support services, which keeps the production sector active throughout the year. AlUla is therefore building a reputation as a reliable filming base that can handle varied formats and production scales.

The list of films and series shot in AlUla now includes several Saudi titles screened at international festivals. Other works opened local festivals, while global productions also selected the region for key scenes. These projects have strengthened AlUla’s standing as a preferred filming destination and increased opportunities for national creative talent.

Saudi professionals participate across departments such as cinematography, sound, art direction, and production management. Their growing involvement helps build local skills and experience. At the same time, international teams gain direct knowledge of AlUla’s locations and working conditions, which encourages repeat visits and recommendations to other producers and studios.

AlUla film tourism infrastructure and studios

Film AlUla oversees an integrated ecosystem that links film production with tourism development. The organisation supports filmmakers with access to diverse natural locations and offers regulatory and logistical services. These services cover permits, coordination, and on-the-ground support, enabling different production stages to be completed within the governorate itself.

AlUla Studios is a central part of this ecosystem, functioning as a complete production complex. The site includes soundstages, sound studios, outdoor backlot areas, workshops for set building, and flexible office spaces. These facilities give crews controlled environments alongside the surrounding natural landscapes that originally drew attention to AlUla.

Supporting spaces at AlUla Studios include dressing rooms, makeup areas, costume rooms, and an advanced recording studio. These allow filming, sound recording, and post-production to take place in one location. Crews can move efficiently between studio work and outdoor shoots, which helps maintain schedules and manage budgets more effectively.

AlUla film tourism and visitor appeal

The growth of film tourism in AlUla has also influenced how visitors view the region’s heritage and nature. Works shot among rock formations, oases, and historic sites raise global awareness of these locations. Many viewers later seek guided tours that retrace scenes they remember from films or series.

As more productions highlight AlUla’s natural and historical assets, these places become recognised visitor stops. The result is a tourism model supported by cultural and visual content, where creative industries and travel activities reinforce each other. AlUla continues to use this link between screen exposure and on-site discovery to support sustainable visitor interest.

With inputs from SPA