Melanie de Souza

Melanie de Souza is the Executive Director, Destination Marketing at the Royal Commission for AlUla where she leads a marketing team of specialists across customer insights and research, brand, digital experience, trade and consumer marketing, public relations, partnerships and airline attraction. She spearheaded AlUla's first domestic brand campaign, The World's Masterpiece, in 2022, and in 2024 led the launch of its first global marketing campaign, Forever Revitalising, which rolled out across nine markets in six languages. This global fully integrated campaign established AlUla's strategic positioning as a responsible, forward-thinking, and purpose-driven tourism destination built on the experience economy, resulting in significant growth in brand awareness and consideration among key target audiences. A marketing leader with an outstanding track record of achievement in the tourism and hospitality industries in Australia and Asia, Melanie was included in the list of Australia's top 50 most innovative Chief Marketing Officers in CMO Magazine 2018. More recently, Melanie was named as one of Campaign Middle East's Marketing Game Changers in 2024. Prior to her current role, Melanie worked with Visit Victoria, the marketing and events acquisition agency for the state of Victoria, Australia where as CMO she and her global team achieved exceptional results in international and domestic tourism. Previous to Visit Victoria, Melanie worked in the private sector in senior marketing roles with the global luxury hotel chain The Oberoi Group of Hotels.