By Tobias Schoenberg, Jan Gerrit Köchling, Richard Stolz and Maryam Aljafen

Across the Gulf Cooperation Council, culture is no longer a backdrop to economic development—it has become a central pillar of it. From city-scale public art installations to world-class museum districts and rapidly expanding creative economies, GCC governments are embedding culture into national strategies with unprecedented ambition. The question is no longer whether culture matters for diversification, but who will lead—and what the race for cultural leadership means for the region's long-term trajectory.

Six distinct models, one shared ambition

Each GCC country is pursuing cultural leadership through a distinct strategic lens. The UAE has positioned itself as the region's most globally networked hub—pairing a rapidly expanding museum infrastructure with internationally recognized partnerships, a large creative workforce and the highest cultural GDP contribution in the bloc. Saudi Arabia, energized by Vision 2030, leads on scale and heritage recognition, deploying culture across biennales, city-wide art programs and major institutional investments. Together, these two markets already capture the vast majority of inbound cultural visitors across the region.

The remaining GCC markets each bring a differentiated proposition. Qatar leverages world-class institutional investment and strong post-FIFA World Cup momentum to embed culture in everyday urban life. Oman pursues measured modernization rooted in authenticity, significantly expanding its museum landscape in recent years while activating a rich tradition of performing arts and natural heritage. Bahrain draws on some of the Gulf's most historically deep cultural assets to attract a disproportionately large share of cultural visitors relative to its size. Kuwait, meanwhile, offers an accessible community-centered model—where landmark venues, independent creative platforms and living heritage houses coexist within a compact urban radius.

The economics behind the ambition

By 2025, the GCC is home to over 200 public museums, attracting more than 18 million cultural visitors annually and supporting a cultural workforce exceeding 700,000 people. Yet the distribution of economic impact across the six markets varies considerably, reflecting different levels of sector maturity and strategic prioritization. Cultural GDP contributions span a wide range across the bloc, and inbound tourism flows remain highly concentrated—underscoring that for several markets, the gap between cultural ambition and measurable economic return is one of the defining strategic challenges of this moment.

For senior decision-makers, this divergence demands careful attention. While some GCC markets already record significant and growing cultural contributions to GDP, others are still in early expansion phases, with ambitious national targets but considerable ground yet to cover. The detailed country-by-country picture—across institutional infrastructure, workforce scale, tourism flows and UNESCO recognition—reveals where the strategic opportunities and risks are most acute.

From national competition to coordinated regional advantage

We believe the GCC's greatest opportunity lies not only in intensifying national cultural investment, but in converting competition into coordinated advantage. Linking cultural hubs, harmonizing mobility schemes for creative talent and co-hosting regional events that present the Gulf as a unified cultural destination on the global stage are among the most powerful levers available to regional leaders. Forging strategic alliances with globally recognized cultural institutions, securing international event franchises and building education ecosystems that cultivate the next generation of GCC creatives are all central to sustaining this momentum.

The strategic decisions made now—across government ministries, cultural commissions and investment bodies—will determine whether the GCC evolves from a collection of ambitious national projects into a coherent and competitive cultural force on the world stage. How each country navigates this moment, and how the region chooses to act together, is the defining question at the heart of this report.