As the world begins to move away from its reliance on fossil fuels, Saudi Arabia is attempting to rapidly and wisely diversify itself away from its traditional oil-based economy to one in which a newly established tourism industry can be a significant driver of investment, employment, and economic sustainability.
Largely centred around the kingdom’s 1,760 kilometers (1,100 miles) of warm and closely accessible Red Sea coastline, the variety, diversity, and sheer number of new destination announcements has been dizzying. But with the peak of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 plan still six years away, we should still expect even more new project announcements to come.
By far, the most famous of Saudi Arabia’s various futuristic tourism endeavors is Neom, within which are (so far) no fewer than 15 sub-projects, some of which, such as the ski resort city and winter sports paradise of Trojena, seem like they could themselves be stand-alone mega-projects.
On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, yet another Neom-based project, a new golf resort named Gidori, was announced a mere two weeks after the previous latest announcement of a new wellness retreat known as Elanan was added to the growing list of projects within the new region of Neom.
Then, there is also Amaala, not to be confused with Sindalah, which is billed as “a luxury island destination in the Red Sea” and a sub-project of Neom. Amaala is NOT part of Neom, but it IS also located along the Red Sea just south of Neom.
To top off the confusion, there is also a separate entity called The Red Sea Project, which is actually more similar to a region than a project and which lies directly south of the the new region of Amaala. And while one might logically think that The Red Sea Project would encapsulate all of the various new projects along and adjacent to the Red Sea, one would be wrong.
The Red Sea Project actually does NOT include most of the audacious and famous new projects along Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. Instead, it contains an additional portfolio of new hotels, resorts, cities, and islands further down in the central coastal region.
Exacerbating the sense of discombobulation is the use of the word “project” in The Red Sea Project’s name, given that it’s clearly more akin to a “region” like Neom, which also contains various “projects” within it. However, we’ve also heard of Neom referred to as a “mega-project” as well as a seemingly new and made-up label, a “giga-project.”
So, what ARE all these different entities in reality? Are they regions, projects, mega-projects, or something else? And how do they all relate to one another, and to the various sub-projects within them? If you’re sufficiently confused about all of these questions and more related to the tourism development aspect of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 masterplan, you’re not alone.
To address those very questions and help untangle the confusion surrounding the inter-connectedness of this dazzling but dizzying array of new and audacious projects and mega-projects, Middle East Travel & Tourism has put together this handy reference guide to expound upon what we know about each entity thus far and how they are all connected and grouped.
NEOM
Neom has been described in both official communications and in media as a futuristic city, a new urban area, a mega-project, a giga-project, and a region. In reality, Neom is a 26,500-square-kilometer (10,200-square-mile) area of northwestern Saudi Arabia wholly within the current borders of Tabouk Province. Neom may or may not some day become a new special-status province unto itself with a different set of laws and regulations from the rest of the kingdom, but that’s another story.
First announced in 2017 as a key part of the tourism development strategy of Saudi Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged initial funding from the country’s Public Investment Fund via a private joint-stock company to help jumpstart the new $500-billion-dollar masterplan for Neom. More recently, the corporation behind Neom has also sought loans from private financiers and even floated the idea of listing shares of the company on a public stock exchange to raise additional financing.
Given Neom’s expanse of territory, it would be wholly insufficient to simply refer to it as a “city” or even just an “urban area,” as there will likely still be great expanses of non-urban wilderness areas between many of the far-flung urban developments within Neom. Calling it a “region” seems more sensible, although some official communications from the company and the government still refer to “regions within Neom,” thus rendering that term less clear and helpful.
While use of the term “project” to refer to Neom as a whole is also wholly insufficient, given that there are obviously many self-described projects under development that are all a part of Neom, the term “mega-project” would seem more appropriate until one considers that some of developments within Neom can be considered mega-projects all by themselves, especially The Line, Trojena, and Oxagon.
However, on Neom’s own website, they refer to these three above-referenced mega-projects as regions, along with Sindalah and the Gulf of Aqaba. This makes for a total of five self-described “regions” inside of the larger region of Neom. And then within the Gulf of Aqaba “region” within Neom, the company lists 10 sub-entities: Leyja, Epicon, Siranna, Utamo, Norlana, Aquellum, Zardun, Xaynor, and the two newest Elanon and Gidori.
Given all of the above as well as the confusion, miscommunication, and misunderstanding that the use and misuse of these terms is likely to cause, my gut instinct is to go with the one term used for Neom which thus far has not, and likely cannot, be used to describe any of Neom’s sub-entities — “giga-project.”
If we settle on calling Neom a giga-project, then we can still refer to the huge multi-faceted conglomerations that are The Line, Trojena, and Oxagon as mega-projects, since mega is a step below giga (think megabytes versus gigabytes). Then we can also safely refer to the 10 (so far) projects that fall under the Gulf of Aqaba region (or mega-project) as stand-alone projects or even as cities and urban areas.
So, now that we have a more logical, linear, and non-contradictory framework for referring to the various entities within Neom, let’s take a closer look at some of them before zooming out.
The Line
Perhaps the most famous of all of Saudi Vision 2030’s planned entities is the 170-kilometer-long (105-mile-long) mega-project known simply as The Line. Envisioned to be a vertically aligned linear city, developers of The Line boast that it will have no roads, no cars, and no emissions, with a high-speed rail line connecting the city end-to-end in just 20 minutes. At 500 meters (1,640 feet) tall but only 200 meters (656 feet) wide, the futuristic urbanisation will have a capacity of 9 million residents, each of whom is promised to have access to all daily essentials within a five-minute walk from anywhere within the city.
Trojena
One doesn’t typically – or ever! – think of snow when one thinks of Saudi Arabia, but the kingdom does have several mountain ranges, at least one of which reaches altitudes high enough to sustain a small blanket of snow for part of the year. Conveniently located just 50 kilometers (31 miles) inland from the Red Sea in the heart of Neom, the mega-project known as Trojena aims to become a winter sports resort city complete with 36 kilometres (22 miles) of ski slopes planned for use during the three peak winter months of the year when this high-altitude climate can sustain sub-zero temperatures. But Trojena will not be just a winter-only destination, with developers planning to take full advantage of the area’s cooler-than-average (for the region) temperatures to promote Trojena as a year-round active outdoor lifestyle destination.
Oxagon
Oxagon is envisioned as the future industrial and production engine as well as the trade and logistics hub of Neom, and likely of the wider Red Sea area too. Partly built on land and partly on a new artificial floating island, the centrepiece of Oxagon will be an enormous port that will bisect the two halves of this mega-project. Its marketing and communications materials also promise a “business-friendly and progressive environment,” lending more credence to the theory that Neom may be intended to become a separate and distinct zone – or even a new province – with a unique legal and administrative set-up that differs from the rest of the kingdom.
Sindalah
Blurring the line between project and mega-project is Sindalah, another of Neom’s primary sub-entities that will lie fully off-shore on an existing island near the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba. Sindalah is touted as a new destination for the global yachting community that will be centered around it’s 86-berth marina and an exclusive yacht club, in addition to three luxury resorts, a trendy beach club, and various sporting and wellness facilities that will cater to a well-heeled international crowd.
Gulf of Aqaba
Rounding out Neom’s list of primary sub-entities is a fifth one that is simply labeled Gulf of Aqaba. Confusingly named, since most of Neom actually lies adjacent to the actual Gulf of Aqaba, this entity appears to be less of a mega-project in itself and more of a catch-all for the 10 other (so far) smaller project-level developments that are under way within Neom. Most of the Gulf of Aqaba projects are either a single futuristic building (usually a hotel or resort) or a set of inter-connected buildings, often built into dramatic rock valleys or cliff faces with matching architectural flair. These 10 projects are also mostly centered around themes such as beach, wellness, wilderness, sports, or events. At the time of publication, the 10 Gulf of Aqaba projects within Neom that have been announced are Leyja, Epicon, Siranna, Utamo, Norlana, Aquellum, Zardun, Xaynor, and the two newest Elanon and Gidori.
THE RED SEA PROJECT
The Red Sea Project forms another important part of Saudi Vision 2030, but it is a separate giga-project from Neom. Like Neom, the announcement of The Red Sea Project came from Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman in 2017, with construction beginning in 2019. By the end of 2023, its first completed resort, Six Senses Southern Dunes, had already opened its doors to the public, with the St. Regis Red Sea Resort following soon thereafter in early-2024 and over a dozen more properties expected to open in the vicinity later this year.
To serve these newly debuted destinations, a new airport in the area called Red Sea International Airport (airport code: RSI) has also already begun operations with three flights per week to and from Riyadh and two more to and from Jeddah. In the future, we’re likely to see far more regional flights and even a few long-haul destinations connected with this new airport as more resorts begin to open their doors and as international public awareness grows.
In total, The Red Sea Project currently has 50 hotels and resorts in the pipeline, along with new recreational facilities and expanded access to unique cultural attractions within the region. Most notably, perhaps, is Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site – the ancient ruins of Hegra at Al Ula.
At some point recently, the developer behind The Red Sea Project, a company known as Red Sea Global that is fully owned by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, dropped the word “project’ from this entity’s name and began referring to it as just The Red Sea. However, as discussed earlier, this may lead to even more confusion since there are many projects, mega-projects, and giga-projects along the body of water known the world over as the Red Sea which are not part of the development area that they are now calling The Red Sea.
AMAALA
Yet another giga-project (according to some) in development along the same coastal stretch of the [actual] Red Sea, but not part of the development now called The Red Sea, is Amaala. Also being developed by the company Red Sea Global, Amaala is located in between the area formerly known as The Red Sea Project, to its south, and Neom, to its north.
While appearing to be yet another luxury resort region with a focus on high-end hotels, wellness, and other similar buzzwords, we currently know the least about this new area except for the three projects within it that have been announced thus far, including entities being referred to in marketing materials as Triple Bay, The Coastal Development, and The Island.
In spite of the ambiguity and confusion surrounding how all of these new projects, sub-projects, mega-projects, and giga-projects are announced, labeled, communicated, and marketed, there is no doubt that a staggering number of world-class new hotels, resorts, retreats, and even whole new cities are currently in development all over Saudi Arabia. And these new destinations are not merely talk; construction is well under way at most of these sites and some have already begun operating and have even welcomed their first guests.
We still have a lot to learn about most of these new places, and it will surely take time for global audiences to warm up and adjust to Saudi Arabia’s new status as an open and welcoming tourist destination. But it is now abundantly clear that the kingdom and its bold leadership have the intent, the motivation, the resources, and the technical assistance to see the tourism development component of Saudi Vision 2030 come to fruition. And indeed, it is very likely that we have not even yet heard the last of what they have planned.
