Culture does not become an economy simply because it is beautiful or ancient. Value begins when a cultural element becomes a product, experience, or piece of content that someone wants to buy, and then develops into income, jobs, businesses, and investment. From crafts and fashion to heritage sites, films, and intellectual property, Yamamah Insights explores how Saudi identity can enter an economic cycle without losing its cultural meaning.

A piece of Sadu hanging on the wall of a home may be heritage.

The same design, when incorporated into a bag, a piece of furniture, or a visual identity, becomes a product.

And when the product has quality, design, a brand, and a sales channel, and consumers are willing to pay for it, a different story begins: the economic value of identity.

This idea does not mean putting a price on culture or reducing heritage to money.

The question is simpler and deeper:

How can something we inherited culturally generate income, jobs, businesses, and investment?

This is the question posed by the report “The Economic Value of Saudi Identity,” a special edition by Yamamah Insights marking the 96th Saudi National Day.

First: What is the cultural economy?

When we talk about the “cultural economy,” we mean the economic activities that emerge around culture, creativity, and knowledge.

A designer inspired by Sadu, an artisan producing a traditional piece, a film telling a local story, a heritage site welcoming visitors, and a brand that uses an authentic cultural element are all examples that can bring culture and economic activity together.

But the presence of a cultural element does not automatically create an economy.

There is a path it must travel:

Cultural identity → product or experience → demand and spending → economic value.

The journey may stop at any stage.

We may have a rich heritage element that lacks a contemporary design, a good product without a distribution channel, or an innovative idea without intellectual property protection.

This is where the difference emerges between possessing heritage and building an economy around it.

Before calculating value... what do we have?

The report began with the inventory itself.

The number of archaeological sites registered in the National Register of Antiquities reached 14,164 sites as of August 2026.

At the level of intangible cultural heritage, UNESCO’s Representative List includes 16 elements associated with the Kingdom, including individual Saudi elements and others shared with other countries.

Why does this matter economically?

Because documentation is the first step in transforming inherited knowledge into an asset that can be preserved, developed, and built upon.

But the report highlights an important gap: compared with more than 14,000 registered sites, there are 232 visitable heritage sites, according to the data it presents.

This is where the real economic opportunity begins: the gap between what we possess and what we have managed to turn into an experience that can be used and visited.

Crafts: when inherited skills become an activity

Crafts are a clear example.

A family may pass a craft down through generations, but that alone does not make it an organized economic activity.

When the craft is entered into an official register, its practitioner obtains a license, and they are able to sell, enter into contracts, and participate in markets and exhibitions, its economic nature changes.

According to the data discussed in the report, the number of people registered in the National Register of Artisans reached 9,972 male and female artisans in 2025, while 5,508 practice licenses were issued.

Notably, women accounted for approximately 79% of those registered.

Here, crafts can serve two functions at once: preserving a cultural skill and opening a channel for income, employment, and small businesses.

But registration alone is not enough.

The artisan needs a market.

A product that does not reach a buyer remains a limited activity, no matter how high its cultural value.

Fashion: when heritage enters the production cycle

The fashion sector may be the easiest example through which to understand the idea.

Here, design goes beyond the aesthetic element.

There is a designer, material, manufacturing, marketing, a brand, a store, and a consumer.

In other words, identity enters a complete production cycle.

According to the data cited in the report, the Saudi fashion market was worth approximately $36.8 billion in 2025, or nearly SAR 138 billion.

At the same time, local elements such as Al-Qatt Al-Asiri and Sadu appear in fabrics, furniture, packaging, design, and corporate identities.

This is where value emerges that does not come from the material alone.

Two pieces may use the same material, but one of them carries a story, design, and identity that consumers can recognize.

In economic terms, this story can become part of the added value.

Added value, simply put, is the increase in a product’s value that comes from design, manufacturing, branding, or knowledge—not from the raw material alone.

A heritage site sells more than just a ticket

One of the easiest mistakes is to view a heritage site as an economic project that depends on admission fees.

In reality, the visitor begins a broader chain of spending.

They may need a hotel, eat at a restaurant, use transportation, shop at a store, and take home a local or handmade product.

That is why a site’s value may appear more in the activities surrounding it than at the ticket window itself.

According to the report, the Kingdom’s national and global heritage sites received approximately 14.1 million visitors during 2025.

The economic meaning here is not that every visit equals a specific amount, as the report does not provide a direct calculation of that.

It means that transforming a site from a preserved place into a managed experience creates opportunities for spending, employment, and local investment around it.

This is the difference between a “monument” and a “destination.”

What happens when identity becomes a story on screen?

Content has a different quality from a physical product.

A handmade piece is produced and then sold to one buyer.

A film, however, can be screened thousands of times without consuming the original.

In 2025, cinema box-office revenue in the Kingdom reached approximately SAR 920.8 million from 18.8 million tickets.

But the striking figure concerns local production.

Of the 538 films shown during the year, only 11 were Saudi films—approximately 2% of the total number of films.

Nevertheless, these films generated SAR 122.6 million, or approximately 13.3% of box-office revenue.

The figures alone do not explain the reason for this performance, but they prove something important: there is measurable commercial demand for Saudi film production.

This is a crucial point when identity shifts from something displayed to a story consumed economically.

And why does intellectual property enter the picture?

Because a cultural product can be copied.

But when a design, story, brand, or work becomes registered intellectual property, it can be protected, reused, and licensed.

Licensing means that the rights holder allows others to use the asset under specific terms, sometimes in exchange for financial compensation.

This idea allows a single creative product to generate economic value more than once.

In 2025, applications for the voluntary registration of copyrighted works in the Kingdom increased by 87%, according to the data included in the report, alongside growth in patents, industrial designs, and trademarks.

But registration itself is not revenue.

It merely makes the asset protectable, investable, and licensable.

Economic value appears when that asset finds its way into products and markets.

So... when does identity become an economy?

The report concludes that there are six interconnected conditions:

Design, quality, production, marketing, intellectual property protection, and access to the market.

They can be understood through a simple example.

You have a beautiful heritage motif.

If you do not turn it into a design suitable for a contemporary product, the journey stops at heritage.

And if you design it but the quality is poor, it will not compete.

If the quality is excellent but you cannot produce the required quantity, it will not become an industry.

If you produce it but no one knows about it, the marketing fails.

And if it succeeds but you do not protect it, its value may shift to those who copy it.

If you get through all of that without sales and distribution channels, you end up with inventory instead of income.

That is why there is no magical moment when culture turns into an economy.

It is a chain.

Does this mean that all heritage should become a product?

No.

Economic value is not the only measure of culture’s value.

Some elements deserve preservation because they carry historical, social, or human meaning, even if they do not generate a single riyal.

But when we decide to turn one of these elements into an economic activity, the question changes:

Did we design it well?

Did we preserve its authenticity?

Did we produce it with quality?

Did we protect its owners’ rights?

And did it reach a market willing to pay?

This is where the economy begins.

From “Our Pride Is in Our Nature” to an economic question

The 96th Saudi National Day carries the slogan “Our Pride Is in Our Nature.”

From an economic perspective, “our nature” can be understood not only as what distinguishes society, but also as a reservoir of stories, crafts, designs, and experiences that can generate value when developed well.

Identity does not become stronger when it turns into a commodity.

But an economy becomes more distinctive when it can produce things whose stories others cannot easily copy.

This may be the report’s most important idea:

The difference between a rich culture and a strong cultural economy is not simply how much heritage we possess, but our ability to transform what can be transformed into a product, experience, piece of content, or asset while preserving its meaning and authenticity.

About the report

The report “The Economic Value of Saudi Identity” was prepared by Reemas Almashali @Rimas Almashali and Ghadah Alwallan @Ghadah Alwallan from Al Yamamah University in Riyadh, under the supervision of financial and economic analyst Hamad Alsaeed @Hamad Alsaeed, as part of Yamamah Insights’ work marking the 96th Saudi National Day.

The report examines five pathways for the economic value of identity: crafts and handicrafts, fashion and design, heritage sites, filmmaking, and intellectual property, drawing on official data published through September 2026.

Read and download the full report: “The Economic Value of Saudi Identity — How can culture, heritage, and symbols become products, experiences, jobs, and investment?”
The Economic Value of Saudi Identity
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