Basmah Al-Mayman

Basmah Abdulaziz Al-Mayman is the Regional Director for the Middle East, since 2018. With over 17 years of experience in the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH), Al-Mayman was the manager of the International Organizations & Committees Department and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) focal point. As one of the founders of tourism in Saudi Arabia, Al-Mayman focused on developing and strengthening Saudi Relations with International organizations such as United Nations (UN) agencies and World Bank, UNESCO, UNDP, as well as other international organizations and stakeholders in the fields of tourism, heritage, museums, antiquities, and built heritage. In addition, Al-Mayman was a member of the Board of Directors of The UNWTO Sustainable Tourism - Eliminating Poverty Initiative (ST-EP) for the Middle East Region and a founding member of the Program and Budget Committee of the Executive Council of the same region. During the 22nd session of the UNWTO General Assembly in China )2017(, she was selected as the Vice-Chairperson of the Ad hoc Committee on the UNWTO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics. Al-Mayman believes in the power of education, development, and capacity building to which she dedicated a significant portion of her work. Under her mandate, Saudi Arabia hit a historic record in the UNWTO Academy ´s history (previously UNWTO.Themis Foundation) in being the highest concentration of Education and Training activities carried out in a single Member State. In addition, Al-Mayman assisted in conducting Tourism-related national studies in collaboration with UNWTO. Forbes Middle East published a 2020 “power list” ranking 100 businesswomen who are at the top of their game, with Al-Mayman ranking 13th and the only woman representing tourism in the Arab world, that has garnered a position in this prestigious classification, and she is also the first GCC national to hold a leading position at the UNWTO and the first woman to lead the Middle East region in the history of this international organization. During her tenureship; UNWTO opened its first Regional Office for the Middle East (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). Al-Mayman holds a Bachelor degree in English Literature and Linguistics from King Saud University, an MBA from Al Faisal University, in cooperation with the University of Oxford, where she studied Entrepreneurship and Comparative Managerial Issues. She also studied several advanced specialized courses in International Relations, International law, Economic and Diplomatic affairs at Prince Saud Al-Faisal Institute of Diplomatic Studies at the Foreign Ministry in Saudi Arabia. She is fluent in both Arabic and English.