STATION F, ALULA and Galeries Lafayette launch new tourism-focused startup program on campus

The partnership was made official at VivaTech in the presence of Jean-Yves Le Drian.

While half of the planet is obsessing over the spaceX IPO, we are still interested in travel on earth. We are thrilled to announce that we are launching with AlUla and Galeries Lafayette a new program dedicated to the future of tourism in AlUla, in the northwest of Saudi Arabia. This is the first-ever tourism-focused program at STATION F - announced at VivaTech 2026 by Jean-Yves Le Drian, President of AFALULA, Roxanne Varza, Director of STATION F, and

Nicolas Houzé, Chairman of Galeries Lafayette Group, the program is supported by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU). AlUla is a unique cultural destination in Saudi Arabia undergoing major development ahead of global milestones such as Expo 2030 in Riyadh and the 2034 FIFA World Cup. This program aims to directly support that transformation by bringing innovation to the heart of the territory.

Called “Future of Tourism”, the accelerator will bring together 10 international startups for a three-month program at STATION F in Paris. Startups will work on concrete challenges around visitor experience, cultural heritage management, operational efficiency, and AI-powered tourism services. What makes the program unique is its direct link to deployment: the two winning startups selected at the Demo Day in November 2026 will have the opportunity to launch a Proof of Concept in AlUla starting in December.

The program brings together complementary expertise. RCU and AlUla lead the territorial vision, STATION F brings its global startup ecosystem and innovation expertise, and Galeries Lafayette contributes its experience in customer experience, retail and innovation, through assets such as its Maison de l’IA, Lafayette Anticipations, Motier Ventures and the Haussmann flagship store in Paris.

We’re beyond excited to welcome the first cohort of startups shaping the future of tourism between Paris and AlUla. It also comes as part of a year already marked by several major new initiatives across industries, including partnerships with Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Cisco, Doctolib x Roche x AP-HP, Sanofi, Databricks - and the launch of our new F/ai program.