Aradhana Khowala is one of the most influential leaders in the luxury hospitality, travel and tourism sector. Hercareer has spanned 23+ years, five continents and more than 75 countries. Today, she is the CEO of AptamindPartners, a strategic consultancy, which combines hard data and decades of experience to advise governments,emerging destinations, public and private organisations on futureproofing their business. Previously she was theManaging Director of Tourism at NEOM – the US$ 500 Billion land of the future purpose built for a sustainable and anew way of living in Saudi Arabia.
An active board member, she has an impressive portfolio of non-executive board roles, currently serving as Chair ofthe Group Advisory Board of Red Sea Global in Saudi Arabia, the developer behind the Red Sea Project as well asAMAALA – the world’s first integrated wellness destination. Aradhana also serves as a Board Member of Elaf Group,the leisure arm of a sustainable listed holding company – SEDCO where she also chairs the compensation andremuneration committee. In the past she has worked for Jones Lang LaSalle, covering UK, Benelux andScandinavian markets, a Strategy Consulting practice in Europe and Asia as well as in Hospitality Operations inIndia.
An accomplished public speaker with a genuine passion for storytelling, she has spoken on the TEDX stage,participated in global policy discussions in United Nations, as well as the G20 apart from speaking at some of theforemost Leadership Summits around the world. A resolute advocate of women’s empowerment, diversity andinclusion and an activist for equality, she spends a lot of her time engaging Heads of States lobbying for travel andtourism as a force for good but through a lens of equity, justice and mindfulness.
Aradhana has won multiple awards and was featured amongst the 100 most powerful people in Global Hospitalityas well as the 25 most Influential Women in Hospitality in 2022 by International Hospitality Institute. In 2021 shewas featured as an Inspirational woman rethinking a sustainable tourism by City Nation Place in the UK and alsowon the Chairman’s Award from Global Chamber of Commerce, US for being a leader amongst peers. She won the21st Century Icon Awards in 2017 in association with CNBC and London School of Economics in London as anInspirational Game Changer and in 2014, she was featured as one of the 50 most Influential Next Generationleaders who will define the future of luxury by Swiss Economic magazine Bilan.
Aradhana is a strong believer in and advocate for the fact that, when it is done right, tourism can be a force forpositive change. This must involve tourism stakeholders taking an active rather than a passive role in all threeaspects of ESG: environmental, social and governance. And while her vision for the future of tourism is ambitious,she is not afraid of the hard work or the tough conversations that are required to get there, whether that is talkingabout the gender gap in the boardroom or healthcare and wellness sectors, getting to the bottom of what is turningthe younger generation off a career in tourism, or developing metrics and tools to ensure hospitality businessesrobustly measure their efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion through a first-of-its kind portal,FiveEightTen. One theme runs through all her work: radical change is needed to ensure a sustainable future for anindustry that has huge potential for positive social and financial impact on communities around the world.
She read at Cornell University in New York, has an MBA from Ecole Hô teliè re de Lausanne in Switzerland, is acertified Neuro Linguistic Programming Coach, and has an International Director Board Certification from INSEAD,France.
