Another “oil” country has joined the race for records in tourism and plans to build a mega-resort worth 500 billion dollars, 33 times the size of New York – including on the Red Sea. We are talking about Saudi Arabia, which presented the Neom project, which should become a city and resort of the future.
As Gloria Guevara Manzo, chief adviser to the Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, reported in the Saudi press, the number of tourists in the country increased by 378%, and tourism revenues increased by 168%. The country expects that Saudi Arabia will become a world power in the field of tourism and tourism will become the “second oil” of the country.
At the same time, the country’s Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Al-Hatahib, who heads Saudi Arabia’s global tourism strategy, personally visits tourism centers worldwide and models how to make Saudi Arabia a better destination for travel, tourism, and investment. The country is also making huge investments in mega-projects to make the country attractive for tourists.
As part of this plan, new cities, airports, and 600 thousand (!!!) hotel rooms will be built, for which the country will invest 1 trillion dollars in the tourism sector. One of the key points of Saudi Arabia’s tourism development plan is the Red Sea, home to the fourth-largest coral reef in the world.
“The flagship of the kingdom’s tourism projects is the city of Neom, which will be implemented with an investment of 500 billion dollars and will be 33 times larger than New York,” the press added. The city will also include the “tourist cluster” Trojena, which will be located 50 km from the coast of the Red Sea Gulf of Aqaba, where the height of the mountains reaches 2,600 m.
It is planned that this tourist oasis will be distinguished by a huge range of services for residents and guests. This mountain complex includes ski slopes, an interactive nature reserve, beach developments, an artificial freshwater lake, an automated port, and an airport. Tourists are also promised “Red Sea” clusters, including new ports and long beaches.