Basmah al-Mayman

Basmah Abdulaziz al-Mayman is a Saudi woman who has served as the Regional Director for the Middle East at the United Nations World Tourism Organization since 2018. She was also selected as a tourism ambassador by the Arabian Travel Awards in 2022.

Basmah al-Mayman obtained a master's in business administration (MBA) from al-Faisal University in partnership with the University of Oxford. She was the Manager of the International Organizations and Committees Department. She also served as the Saudi focal point at the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), representing the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (currently the Ministry of Tourism). She boasts experience in international organizations and relations, including experience related to United Nations agencies, the World Bank, and other stakeholders in the fields of tourism, heritage, antiquities, and urban heritage.

Basmah al-Mayman represented the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was a member of the Board of Directors of the UNWTO Sustainable Tourism - Eliminating Poverty Initiative (ST-EP) for the Middle East Region, an initiative that was later converted into an international organization. She is a founding member of the Program and Budget Committee of the Executive Council of the same region. She also took part in many regional and international conferences.

The UNWTO selected Basmah al-Mayman as the Regional Director for the Middle East at the United Nations World Tourism Organization upon her nomination by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (formerly) and the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The UNWTO regional office covers thirteen countries in the region. Pursuant to the classification of the World Bank, al-Mayman is the youngest executive director.

Forbes Middle East ranked Basmah al-Mayman thirteenth among the one hundred most influential Arab women in 2020. It also ranked her fifteenth among the fifty most influential women in the Middle East in 2022, and twentieth among tourism and travel leaders in the Middle East for the same year, where she was selected among chairmen of the board of directors of airlines in the region.

In 2022, the Arabian Travel Awards selected Basmah al-Mayman as tourism ambassador in recognition of her efforts in fostering Arab tourism and cooperating with the region's governments to recover from the repercussions of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, ultimately achieving economic growth and sustainability in the Middle East.