From Florida to Paris and Shanghai, Disney boasts a string of resorts across the world. Now, a complex that has been touted as a rival to the entertainment conglomerate’s popular parks is set to be launched in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi King Salman will on Wednesday inaugurate a multibillion dollar construction project near Riyadh that will include high-end theme parks, motor sport facilities and a safari park. American theme park corporation Six Flags agreed a deal this month to build a branded compound at the complex.
The Saudi hope is that the park, known as the Qiddiya project, will become the must-visit entertainment, sports and cultural hub in the kingdom.
The 33,400-hectare park is to be located about 25 miles south-west of the Saudi capital. The first phase of construction is scheduled for completion in 2022.
Salman will be joined by investors, local and international officials and company representatives at the ceremony on Wednesday.
The project is part of a wider effort to diversify the kingdom's economy away from its dependence on oil. That effort is being led by the king's son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is the chief architect of the ambitious Vision 2030 modernisation project. Under the project the kingdom has lifted a ban on women driving and is now re-opening cinemas.
Saudi officials are conscious that the country has a young population that needs to be entertained if they are to remain in the kingdom and boost its economy amid lower oil prices.
"About two thirds of the kingdom's population is under the age of 35. There is a great need for Qiddiya Project to provide them with entertainment," Dr Fahd bin Abdullah Tounsi, an official working on the project, told the Saudi Press Agency.
He said that the project demonstrates the "relentless effort to develop giga-projects that will help achieve many direct and indirect economic returns". It will provide the Saudi economy with about $30 billion, Mr Tounsi estimated, which would be used "to develop the domestic economy and create new job opportunities for Saudi youth".
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Qiddiya chief executive Michael Reininger said he expects the project to draw foreign investors in entertainment and other sectors but did not specify the total cost of construction.
Saudi Arabia has dazzled investors with several plans for hi-tech "giga projects", funded in part by its sovereign wealth fund but some sceptics question their viability in an era of cheaper oil.
The reforms stem partly from an economic motive to boost domestic spending on entertainment as the kingdom has been sufferingfrom the effects of an oil slump since 2014.
The kingdom has unveiled blueprints to build NEOM, a mega project billed as a regional Silicon Valley, in addition to the Red Sea project, a reef-fringed resort destination — both worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Analysts say the projects could create funding pressures at a time when the government faces a yawning budget deficit and growth in the kingdom's non-oil economy is only slowly gathering pace.
In February, Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority (GEA) announced it would stage more than 5,000 festivals and concerts this year, double the number of last year, and pump $64bn in the sector in the coming decade.
At a Beverly Hills event during the crown prince’s US visit, Saudi dignitaries struck a deal with touring company Feld Entertainment to host events including Disney on Ice.
As the colossal entertainment park project gets set in motion, Saudi royals are not only building projects to rival the company but courting its top executives to aid their objectives. As part of his US tour this month, the crown prince met Robert Allen Iger, chairman and chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, for talks on co-operation in the fields of entertainment, film and culture.
Young Saudis currently spend billions of dollars annually to see films and visit amusement parks in neighbouring tourist hubs such as Dubai and Bahrain. But if the Qiddiya project takes off as the Saudi royal family plans, the Riyadh complex could now become their entertainment hotspot of choice.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The years Ramadan fell in May
The five pillars of Islam
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More on Quran memorisation:
Zayed Sustainability Prize
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SQUADS
Bangladesh (from): Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammad Mithun, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Taijul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain, Nayeem Hasan, Mehedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadat Hossain, Abu Jayed
Afghanistan (from): Rashid Khan (capt), Ihsanullah Janat, Javid Ahmadi, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Qais Ahmad, Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Afsar Zazai, Shapoor Zadran
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The years Ramadan fell in May
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
MATCH INFO
Karnatake Tuskers 114-1 (10 ovs)
Charles 57, Amla 47
Bangla Tigers 117-5 (8.5 ovs)
Fletcher 40, Moores 28 no, Lamichhane 2-9
Bangla Tiger win by five wickets
If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
Dh10,000 for littering at Ajman's beaches
Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier
ICC Academy, November 22-28
UAE fixtures
Nov 22, v Malaysia
Nov 23, v Hong Kong
Nov 25, v Bhutan
Nov 26, v Kuwait
Nov 28, v Nepal
ICC T20I rankings
14. Nepal
17. UAE
25. Hong Kong
34. Kuwait
35. Malaysia
44. Bhutan
UAE squad
Chaya Mughal (captain), Natasha Cherriath, Samaira Dharnidharka, Kavisha Egodage, Mahika Gaur, Priyanjali Jain, Suraksha Kotte, Vaishnave Mahesh, Judit Peter, Esha Rohit, Theertha Satish, Chamani Seneviratne, Khushi Sharma, Subha Venkataraman
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
The five pillars of Islam
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The biog
Name: Salem Alkarbi
Age: 32
Favourite Al Wasl player: Alexandre Oliveira
First started supporting Al Wasl: 7
Biggest rival: Al Nasr
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Kibsons%20Cares
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The five pillars of Islam
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Regional Qualifier
The top three teams progress to the Asia Qualifier
Final: UAE beat Qatar by nine wickets
Third-place play-off: Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by five runs
Table
1 UAE 5 5 0 10
2 Qatar 5 4 1 8
3 Saudi 5 3 2 6
4 Kuwait 5 2 3 4
5 Bahrain 5 1 4 2
6 Maldives 5 0 5 0
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
