When I first visited the Kingdom five years ago, I was completely bowled over by the natural assets and the physical beauty of the country.

The mountains, the beaches, the pristine marine life, the people, the preserved heritage sites, the sceneries and so on.

China is not only the biggest travel market in the world but also one of the biggest spenders globally.

At its peak in 2019, China had an estimated 155 million tourists traveling abroad, three times as many as it had in 2010, and they were spending $255 billion abroad.

This year has been painful for global stock market investors, but the last few weeks have been especially difficult after several giant US retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Gap and Dick’s Sporting Goods all warned of a significant slowdown in consumer spending.

The COVID-19 pandemic sent the tourist industry into a once in a generation crash, but just as it was beginning to recover a new threat of rampant inflation looks set to significantly disrupt demand again.

It’s always worth remembering what German economist Rudi Dornbusch said — things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.

"Behold the Turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out." James Bryant Conan

I have always loved the movies and in specific those that surprise me; stories that I haven’t heard before; stories that make me think about the world and people and places in new ways.