Meccanomics

BEFORE oil, religious tourism was Saudi Arabia's largest industry. It still ranks a distant second, generating annual revenues of perhaps $8 billion. Unlike oil, however, the “holy places hospitality trade”, as local entrepreneurs call it, is free of price volatility, and its underlying resource will not run out. It employs four times more workers than the oil industry. Best of all, it is growing faster than any other sector of the economy.