President Biden is not the only one visiting Saudi Arabia. He is followed by a crowd of tourists.
However, it is permissible not to reserve the desert kingdom for your next vacation. The 2018Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi murderand the life of the harsh religious police who almost returned women to all but theocratic Saudi Arabia's most brave non-Islamic adventurers. It meant that it wasn't a sensible destination for me.
In fact, Saudi Arabia did not offer tourist visas until September 2019.Gulf countries have announced that visitors from 49 countries can enter the airport for only $ 117. A few months later, a COVID occurred. Without this, it obscured what would have been a frowning announcement for brave travelers.
Around the same time, Saudi Arabia was known for its tyrannical religious police forces, known for harassing women, suppressing free speech, and crouching to make sure no one was having fun. Quietly castrated. With little effort, the woman started driving, the cinema was opened, music was heard in public, and the headscarf was pulled back for the first time.
In 2019, a large music festival called MDL Beast debuted. Thousands of people from all over the world for a lineup of people from Miami's Ultra (Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, Deadmau5, Tiesto, Steve Aoki, etc.) in a venue like Burning Man. Arrived wearing Rave Gear. That same year, Mariah Carey first performed in front of a mixed-sex audience in Saudi Arabia.
The welcome liberalization of Saudi society is a trillion to build a global tourism economy and turn oil. It's just part of the promotion of the dollar-a country that depends on the world's playgrounds. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hopes to attract about 100 million visitors by 2030 (according to the World Tourism Organization, it will attract only 17.5 million foreign visitors in 2019. Saudi Arabia will be one of the most visited countries on the planet.
Attracting more tourists than most European countries to places that are sober, authoritarian, and sometimes mysterious, sounds ridiculous, but ultimately Saudi Arabia. The infrastructure that transforms a dozen into Dubai is almost here. Whether you love or hate Saudi Arabia, you will soon be unable to ignore it.
Most importantly, the first phase of the $ 50.6 billion dillia gate development in Riyadh will debut this fall.
Saudi Arabia plans to almost double the population of its capital by 2030 (including the addition of millions of foreigners). This 370-acre project, about 13 times the size of the Hudson Yards, is the basis of its efforts and attracts an estimated 25 million visitors annually.
This project, led by Jerry Inzerillo, a hotel owner in New York and a doppelganger at Martin Scorsese, has a number of projects. A city that includes ten hotels, tens of thousands of new apartments, a university, a subway, an opera house, four Michelin-starred restaurants, countless palm trees, and a vast shopping district modeled after Shan's Elysee. 2026. The first phase begins this fall around the restored ruins of the UNESCO World Heritage Site at To Life. The former home of the Saudi royal family, it was the first capital of the country until it was plundered by the Ottoman Empire in 1818.
Baccarat, Orient Express, Raffles, Park Hyatt, Rit z-Carlton, Rosewood, Four Seasons and Six Senses are just some of the upscale Western classics that have opened in the new district.
Inzerillo — One&Only brand and known for the development of Atlantis Resorts and the opening of iconic hotels like Delano in Miami Beach — is the only New York landing in the unlikely Riyadh. Not.
The vast city is finally Cipriani (Mître d'Hôtel is New York) The 23-story glass-paneled Knob Hotel will open next year with two David Burke restaurants. Located in the city's iconic bottler opener-shaped Kingdom Tower, the Four Seasons Hotel has long been the best in the city, but by next year it will compete with the luxury Mansard brands of The St. Regis, the luxury JW Marriott, Fairmont and Radison. intend to do something.
Outside Riyadh, many luxury hotels familiar with Jetset Manhattanite are open.
The eco-focused Red Sea project will bring 16 new hotels to 11,000 square miles of resorts. A new airport opened in early 2023. Numerous luxury hotels will polkadot the project, including the 430-room Grand Hyatt Hotel on Shaula Island, which will eventually include the marina and 18-hole championship golf. Course), Nature-focused Raffles Resort, The St. Regis and Edition Resort, designed by Foster + Partners.
In the desert, six along the ancient incense trade route Senses opened the Southern Dunes Resort in 2023. The 73-key boutique resort was also designed by Foster + Partners.
Seaside City Jeddah — Last yearJustin Bieber playedand the annual F1 race fills the city with celebrities such as A $ AP Rocky, will.i.am and Gordon Ramsay. — 9,000 new luxury hotel rooms are approaching. Most notably, the new Shangri-La opened in February.
Meanwhile, Dubai and the historic city of Alura are Saudi Arabia's tourism businesses. Can be a true hub for.
A large archaeological and UNESCO archaeological site many times larger than Jordan's Petra, Arura is dozens of carved sandstones throughout the giant Desert Canyon, nearly 200 miles north of the Medina. Shows off the ancient Nabataean tombs of. Amazingly beautiful and completely uncommercial, Alura is transforming into the wellness capital of Saudi Arabia, and the "eat, pray, love" set is already swarming to do yoga under the ancient sandstone monolith. increase. Habitas and Banyan Tree hotels will open in October this year.
A singer like Enrique Iglesias in Malaya Concert with — The world's largest mirrored building. Seems to disappear into an exciting mountain landscape — and a celebrity-filled event like this year's Dolce & governor fashion show will bring Alura to all new visitors. You should see what remains of Saudi Arabia, which was very under construction in the first place.
However, despite seemingly motivated to attract hordes of luxury inns, Saudi Arabia has not yet been the first check-in option for the Americans for some time. Geopolitical ghosts and barrages with negative headlines see it.
But hospitality investors aren't worried.
"When it comes to tourism, Saudis have secret weapons," a Saudi insider who wanted to remain anonymous told the post. "There are about 2 billion Muslims in the world, all of whom have a religious obligation to visit Mecca. All the kingdom has to do is turn the faucet and shed people."