In the move to draw more tourists in the Kingdom, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman signs with international theme park operator Six Flags to make ‘entertainment super-city.’
Prince Salman hopes to see tourism to contribute to Saudi’s gross domestic product for about 10 percent in 2030. With the new partnership with Six Flags, the world’s longest, tallest and fastest roller coaster will arise.
The Qiddiya project plans to construct a 40-kilometer theme park outside Riyadh. This will be called entertainment super-city,’ that will feature 28 exhilarating rides. Twelve of these rides will be record-breakers and first in the world. According to the Sun, the theme park will open in 2023.
With the construction of the theme park in Qiddiya, there will be millions of new jobs.
Aside from the theme park, Saudi Arabia also reviews new tourism visas to allow more foreign visitors to the Kingdom. Currently, the tourism visa process requires a letter from the government. The plan to simplify the process and to ease current requirements.
“It’s kind of a two-sided coin. On the one hand, we’re opening up these opportunities that create lifestyle experiences and quality of life experiences through entertainment, sports, and the arts, but in order to do that, we also create economic opportunities in the form of jobs, spending and all of the economic power that comes out of that sort of thing,” said Qiddiya Investment Company CEO Michael Reininger.
Saudi Arabia is on the move to diversify its economy and not depend on oil sales and production alone. In fact, the country has already invested billions of dollars in creating more avenues for gross products. After tech investments, Saudi is also shifting to tourism as it is believed to give bigger share in the economy.
