Saudi Services Exports Rise 7.9 Percent in the First Quarter as Travel Strengthens Non-Oil Earnings
Saudi Arabia’s services exports rose 7.9 percent quarter on quarter to 71.3 billion riyals in the first quarter of 2026, supported by strong travel receipts and the continued expansion of the Kingdom’s non-oil external earnings, according to the General Authority for Statistics. Exports increased from 66.1 billion riyals in the fourth quarter of 2025, while services imports fell to 111.4 billion riyals from 119.6 billion, a decline of 6.9 percent.
Travel was the main driver. Travel services generated 44.3 billion riyals, about 62 percent of total services exports, with personal travel accounting for 96.6 percent of the category, underlining how central inbound tourism, religious travel and leisure spending have become to the services account. Transportation ranked second at 10.9 billion riyals, followed by communications, computer and information services and government services at 2.6 billion riyals each, other business services at 2.4 billion riyals, construction at 2.0 billion riyals and financial services at 1.7 billion riyals.
A narrowing services deficit
The most important analytical point is the narrowing of the services deficit, from about 53.5 billion riyals in the fourth quarter to about 40.1 billion riyals in the first quarter, an improvement of roughly 13.4 billion riyals, or about 25 percent in one quarter. That came from both sides of the account: exports rose by about 5.2 billion riyals while imports fell by about 8.2 billion riyals, so the deficit narrowed by more than export growth alone would imply. In dollar terms, services exports reached about 19.0 billion dollars and the services deficit narrowed to around 10.7 billion dollars at the riyal’s dollar peg. Travel was the clear stabiliser, with travel exports of 44.3 billion riyals exceeding travel imports of 21.3 billion to produce a travel surplus of about 23 billion riyals that offset deficits in transportation, construction and other business services.
Why it matters
The data show that the diversification strategy is increasingly visible in the balance of payments, not just in domestic GDP. Tourism, religious travel, aviation, logistics and professional services are becoming meaningful foreign-currency earners, which matters most when oil prices are soft and oil revenue is under pressure. The travel-led composition ties the figures directly to the Kingdom’s heavy investment in tourism, events and religious-travel capacity, the returns on which now show up in the trade accounts. For the wider Gulf, the Saudi numbers fit a regional pattern of turning tourism, logistics and business services into genuine export industries, while also showing the remaining gap: transport, construction and other business services still rely heavily on imported services.
Outlook
One caution is that the 71.3 billion riyals of services exports in the first quarter was still below the 73.9 billion recorded a year earlier, so the latest data are a strong sequential recovery rather than a new annual high. If travel receipts stay strong and import growth remains contained, the services deficit could narrow further; if construction, transport and professional-services imports rise again with project execution, the deficit may widen despite strong tourism revenue. The strategic direction is positive, but the next stage of diversification will depend on building local capacity in service industries, not only expanding travel exports.
Sources: General Authority for Statistics.
