Riyadh - Mubasher: The Public Investment Fund announced today, Monday, the launch of Al Waha Duty Free Company (Al Waha), which specializes in retail sales to travelers. Al Waha will be the first Saudi-owned company operating duty-free shops.

The fund explained in a statement on Monday that the company will be a national leader in the travel retail sales sector, and redirect a larger portion of travel spending to the Saudi economy.

Al Waha, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund, will develop luxury retail outlets in select locations across the Kingdom, offering a diverse range of goods, including high-quality Saudi products.

The company will operate its outlets at airports on a duty-free basis, and in the future the company will study additional retail sales opportunities at land border points and ports, in addition to sales on board flights.

“The Public Investment Fund aims to enhance the growth of travel retail and support its aspirations in the local tourism sector by launching ‘Al Waha’ to be a leading national company in the field of travel retail,” said Majed Al Assaf, Head of Consumer Products and Retail at the General Department of Investments in the Middle East and North Africa at the Public Investment Fund.

“We have significant opportunities to increase the Kingdom’s share of travel retail spending in the future. The expected growth in the number of travelers to the Kingdom, as well as global events hosted locally, provide new opportunities to generate sustainable revenues for the travel retail sector,” Al-Assaf added.

The Public Investment Fund is working to unleash the capabilities of strategic sectors, with the aim of enhancing economic diversification efforts in the Kingdom. The launch of the “Oasis” company is in line with a series of major investments by the fund in the tourism, aviation and retail sectors, including King Salman International Airport in Riyadh, whose plan was launched in 2022. It will be among the largest airports in the world upon completion of its development work, with a capacity of 120 million passengers annually, and will contain many retail stores and restaurants.

The fund launched Riyadh Air, the Kingdom’s new national carrier, which aims to make Riyadh a global gateway for travel. The fund’s investments also include the Grand Projects Group, along with Jeddah-based Cruise Saudi, which is working to make the Kingdom’s Red Sea coast a major global destination, as well as retail investments including the Saudi Coffee Company, Turath Al Madinah, which focuses on producing high-quality dates, and Sawani, which specializes in camel milk products.