6 major tourism projects underway in Saudi Arabia

In the run-up to Riyadh’s much-anticipated Foreign Investment Initiative (FII), set to take place from Oct. 23 to 25, Argaam has compiled a list of big-ticket tourism projects in Saudi Arabia that are part of the Kingdom’s drive to transform its economy.

While it hosts millions of pilgrims every year, Saudi Arabia has not historically been known as a major tourist destination. As it looks to reduce oil reliance and attract foreign investment, however, the world’s top oil exporter has turned to tourism and to reshape its economy.

Work is now underway on a number of ambitious tourism and entertainment projects in the Kingdom, announced over the past year in a bid to drive economic growth and job creation.

The full list of projects is as follows:

1) NEOM

In October 2017, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman unveiled NEOM, aimed  to position Saudi Arabia as a destination for investment of the future under the ambitious  Vision 2030 initiative

The new investment city will be set up on a total area of 26,500 square meters in the north-western part of the country. The site will be the main entrance to the King Salman Bridge, linking Asia and Africa.

Its landmass will extend across the Egyptian and Jordanian borders, rendering it the first private zone to span three countries.

The project will focus on several investment sectors, including energy and water, mobility, biotechnology, food, advanced manufacturing, media, entertainment, technological, and digital sciences.

The first town in NEOM will be ready in 2019 or 2020, with the entire megaproject completed by 2025, Prince Mohammed said in a Bloomberg interview early this month. 

2) Red Sea Project

The Red Sea Project (RSP) is an ultra-luxury tourist destination announced in August 2017 by Prince Mohammed.

The project will feature luxury resorts across an area of 34,000 square kilometres for nature, adventure, recreation, health and culture. It will be spread across an archipelago of 50 islands, along a 200 kilometres coastline, situated along Saudi Arabia’s western coast.

Work on the development will begin in 2019, with completion of phase one anticipated in 2022.

Phase one includes logistical infrastructure, establishing utilities, air, land and sea transport hubs, transportation services, and development of hotels.

International law will govern the semi-autonomous area. A special travel system will be implemented for international tourists, as most nationalities will be able to travel to Saudi Arabia, for the first time, without a visa.

3) Amaala

In September, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) launched ‘Amaala’, a luxury destination on the northwestern coast of Saudi Arabia, set to become the ‘Riviera of the Middle East.’

Amaala will sit alongside NEOM and the Red Sea Project within the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Natural Reserve, helping establish a unique tourism ecosystem, the PIF has said.

The development will add 2,500 hotel rooms to the Kingdom’s growing hospitality market and will feature 700 private residential villas along with a retail area with 200 outlets.

The 3,000 square kilometre project, which will be spread across the three sites, will have its own airport and target the top tier of global luxury travellers.

4) New Jeddah Downtown

The PIF will finance the redevelopment of Jeddah's corniche area, a project it announced in September last year. 

Works for the project, named New Jeddah Downtown, will be worth SAR 18 billion over a span of ten years, during which PIF will create 36,000 jobs related to development works. 

Initial work for the development is currently underway, with construction due to begin in 2019. Phase one of the development will be launched in Q4 2022. 

Residential areas will account for 42 percent of New Jeddah Downtown, while 35 percent will be dedicated to entertainment and retail, 12 percent to office, and 11 percent to hotel properties. 

More than 12,000 housing units to accommodate 58,000 residents will be developed as part of the project, which will span 500 hectares. 

Besides residential, hospitality, and commercial facilities, the project will also include museums, cultural and social spaces, sports areas, and coastal, seaside, and marine facilities. 

Public Investment Fund to develope Jeddah waterfront with USD4.8 billion project @FII_by_PIF #NewJeddahDowntown https://t.co/vuPQv9oJSj

— CIC Saudi Arabia (@CICSaudi) September 27, 2017

5) Qiddiya

Qiddiya, about an hour’s drive from Riyadh, is being built on a 334 square kilometre site, making it two and a half times the size of the Disney World in Paris. Saudi ruler King Salman laid the foundation stone for the entertainment project in April this year.

Targeting local, regional, and international tourists, Qiddiya will include a Six Flags theme park, water parks, motor sports, cultural events, and vacation homes.

By September 2018, 15 temporary buildings had been erected to accelerate progress on the entertainment destination.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman lays the foundation stone at the Qiddiya entertainment park near Riyadh.

6) Souq Okaz City

A large heritage tourism project – Souq Okaz City – within the Saudi city of Taif began construction in July this year, according to media reports.

The complex will include heritage centres, museums, recreational areas, and a convention centre. It aims to generate 12,000 jobs for Saudi nationals.

Surrounding Souq Okaz City will be a new suburb capable of housing 750,000 people and a new international airport capable of handling five million passengers per year in its first phase.

A new technology hub– King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology – will be built, in addition to a university and an industrial city.

The project, which is to be supervised by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, will host a number of cultural and heritage attractions, as well as 1,250 hotel rooms and 130 homes.