Press Release

Diriyah and the Giga Projects: Defining the New Saudi Arabia

Articles

Visa and Saudi Tourism Authority sign MoU at Arabian Travel Market 2023 to enhance Saudi tourist experience

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Nazmia is a young writer passionate about making complex data and research more approachable, understandable and entertaining. She’s always been an educator at heart, taking on mentorship roles teaching creative and business writing to the scientific community. She is currently pursuing her passion at the intersection of technology and healthcare through a Masters degree in Biomedical Engineering. When she’s not in the lab pouring herself into the magic of tissue engineering and reconstruction, she’s writing and educating the world about all things biotech, healthtech, insurtech and edutech. If you're looking for practical insights with a touch of whimsy, Nazmia is the voice to follow with a fresh perspective on the ever-evolving digital and tech industry. 
Nazmia holds a BS in Biology and is currently pursuing her MS in Biomedical Engineering at the American University of Beirut. She specializes in cartilage tissue research, and uses her writing as a therapeutic escape to produce captivating pieces that take her readers on a journey with every word.

Nazmia Nassereddine

Diriyah and the House of Al Saud

Diriyah & the House of Al Saud

Explore Saudi Arabia’s Mega & Giga Projects that are Changing the Kingdom’s Tourism Landscape

Explore Saudi’s Mega and Giga Projects that are Changing the Kingdom’s Tourism Landscape

Erika is Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer at Lucidity Insights. Having  spent 15 years advising Fortune 500 companies  and multinational conglomerates  from around the world on how to grow businesses in emerging markets, Erika found that data and knowledge underpinned and empowered strategic decision-making. The creation of Lucidity Insights was inspired by the idea that strategic C-suite level data and insights could empower startups and Venture Capitalists in the MENAPT region, elevating the entire regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

Data is not just for the Chief Executive, or the data analyst after-all. Democratizing access to quality data across the tech ecosystem will elevate every startup and every investors’ decision-making, and thus, benefit the economy, overall.

Erika has worked with data to develop comprehensive business success stories and strategies for her entire professional career. She is a thought leader in growth strategies in fast-moving emerging markets, with a focus on Middle Eastern and Asian Markets. She is an expert on the startup ecosystems in the Middle East, and a thought leader on entrepreneurship, disruptive technologies and sustainability. She has worked with both government and corporates clients, across over 30 different industry verticals and in over 40 countries. She is best described as a data-curious strategic thinker and advisor, who also happens to be an  enthusiastic storyteller and writer.

Erika graduated from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business with an Executive MBA (MSx), and also holds degrees from McGill University (B.Sc Neuroscience) and the University of Cambridge (Sustainability in Business). She speaks English and Japanese, is conversational in French, and speaks survival Arabic. In her spare time, she is an avid globe trotter, having travelled to over 70 countries, and counts scuba-diving, free-diving and yoga among her favourite activities. She is a self-described wellness-junkie and adventure enthusiast. She is also a dog mum.

Co-Founder & Chief Content Officer

Erika Masako Welch

Diriyah City: The Cultural Capital of Saudi Arabia

Diriyah: The Cultural Capital of Saudi Arabia

Diriyah and the Giga Projects Defining Saudi Arabia’s New Tourism Economy

We are a team of passionate Researchers, Data Junkies, and Story-Tellers that believe there is not enough quality business insights and compelling data analysis available in the marketplace, told in the formats users want. We want to give an insider's look into the industries, businesses and economies that are changing the world today, so our users can become inspired, empowered and equipped to run their businesses as best they can.

Lucidity Insights Research Team

Infobytes

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International Tourist Arrivals: Q1 2023 Recovery Compared to 2019 Levels

Mega and Giga Projects Transforming Tourism in Saudi Arabia

What Are Saudi Arabia's Mega and Giga Projects?

Infographic: The History Timeline of Diriyah and The House of  Al-Saud

The History of Diriyah and the House of Al-Saud

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Anamika  is a change maker with 15+ years of management consulting, project management, event management and research experience. Having worked for Accenture for over a decade, she began her career overseeing change management and digital learning and development programs across Fortune 500 clients globally. 
Today, Anamika works with select clients on large-scale change programs, and writes whenever she can. As a life-long learner, and lover of writing, she found herself becoming an excellent interviewer, story-teller and speaker. She is passionate about giving voice to startups, projects and new technologies that are nearing break-through. She is curious about the intersection between technology, human behaviour and wellness, and is often most intrigued by startups that help people live better and happier lives.  
Anamika received her BA in Economics and Chinese Studies from the University of Nottingham. She is London born and bred, and splits her time between London and Dubai. She is a certified HIIT instructor, NLP coach and world traveler with a love of experimental cooking.

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Anamika Patel

Aby Sam Thomas

Ashok is a storyteller who uses numbers as his medium. He loves to crunch data, analyze it, and investigate deeper questions until the stories begin to emerge on their own. Ashok comes from a finance and consulting background, having worked in the strategy consulting and private equity fields across the Middle East and Emerging Asia for over 15 years, prior to becoming a business writer. When it comes to tech stories, Ashok has a penchant for startups in the fintech, B2B SaaS, AI and ML spaces. He loves writing about Venture Capital, M&A and the general investor landscape of startup ecosystems.
Ashok holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as a diploma in Finance. He speaks English and Hindi fluently.

Ashok Raman

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Diriyah is just one of many giga-projects the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been investing in and developing for the past few years. With an investment pipeline of $63.2 billion, Diriyah is also on the grander scale of projects announced. It is also is one of the first of Saudi&rsquo;s tourism giga-projects to open its doors to the public; you can go and see for yourself, what tourism is on offer in Saudi.

<a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/en-ae">Entrepreneur Middle East</a> and Lucidity Insights partnered with <a href="https://www.diriyah.sa/">Diriyah Company</a> to launch this <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/reports/diriyah-and-the-giga-projects-defining-the-new-saudi-arabia">Special Report titled: &ldquo;Diriyah &amp; The Giga Projects Defining the New Saudi Arabia&rdquo;.</a> In it, the special report details 7 Mega and Giga Projects, their grand plans and ambitions. It juxtaposes the red clay desert and preserved tombs carved into the mountainside of Al&rsquo;Ula to the futuristic city of NEOM, which has an initial investment and development price tag of over $500 billion. The report also highlights the &ldquo;Arabian Highlands&rdquo; of the Asir region and the luxurious sustainable tourism resorts being built on the white sand beaches of the Red Sea Project.

<img alt="Infographic: The Giga-Projects &amp; Mega Projects Shaping Leisure Tourism in the Kingdom" src="https://d1477w6a38me2o.cloudfront.net/uploads/saudi-diriyah/articles/launch/megaproject.jpg" />

Infographic: The Giga-Projects &amp; Mega Projects Shaping Leisure Tourism in the Kingdom

These tourism development projects in the pipeline amount to over US $600 billion, and the Minister of Tourism, His Excellency Ahmed Al Khateeb has announced an additional US $1 trillion commitment over the next decade. To put that into perspective, US $1 trillion is approximately the size of Mexico&rsquo;s economy (in 2021). It was also the price tag the US spent on the Iraq war between 2003 to 2011. US $1 trillion was also the estimated global cost of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A significant portion of the Kingdom&rsquo;s Vision 2030 success rests on the successful completion of these giga projects, and their impact on the Kingdom&rsquo;s economy. The Saudi government is betting on tourism being a major economic pillar for the Kingdom in the future, as the country looks to diversify away from oil dependency and seeks to create millions of new jobs for young Saudis. With ambitions to grow Saudi Arabia&rsquo;s tourism economy from <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/videos/saudi-arabia-is-aiming-for-100-million-tourism-visits-by-2030">roughly 2% of GDP (in 2016) to over 10% of GDP by 2030,</a> the Kingdom is uncovering its tourism gems and polishing them for the world to visit, experience and see for themselves.

<img alt="Chart: Tourism Contribution to Saudi Arabia’s GDP - 2016 vs 2019 vs 2030 Target" src="https://d1477w6a38me2o.cloudfront.net/uploads/saudi-diriyah/articles/launch/2.jpg" />

See Graph: Tourism Contribution to Saudi Arabia&rsquo;s GDP - 2016 vs 2019 vs 2030 Target

Diriyah is just one of these projects. After announcing the Diriyah project in 2019, the home of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, At-Turaif, the Diriyah Company has been working at a feverish pace to create a luxurious cultural and tourism project unlike any other. Diriyah, now dubbed &lsquo;The City of Earth&rsquo;, is a place of great significance. Diriyah is an old town built of mud-brick structures featuring courtyards, alleyways, and towers that showcase quintessential Najdi architecture. It was established in 1446, and later in 1727 became the capital of the first Saudi State. This is where the first seat of government was formed in the Kingdom, and has been at the heart of trade, culture, knowledge, communication and economic exchange for centuries.

The revival of Diriyah and the mud-brick city is helping to promote the country&rsquo;s cultural heritage and history to the world, with museums, artifacts, and palaces to be visited, coupled with luxury hotels and restaurants for a truly unique experience. Diriyah, like all of these giga projects, is more than just a cultural and tourism project. It&rsquo;s supporting local communities and aiming to create 55,000 jobs. Once fully developed by 2027, this 14 km2 site is expected to bring 27 million local and international visitors by 2030.

We also interview the legendary Jerry Inzerillo in the report, where he speaks to us about his career spanning over 40 years &ndash; starting out busing tables as a young boy in New York city. We cover his relationship with the late Nelson Mandela, his James Bond cameo, and his overall dedication to hospitality and luxury tourism, and what this role at Diriyah means to him at this stage in his career.

Of course, we also cover <a href="https://www.experiencealula.com/">Al&rsquo;Ula</a> and its open air museum offering. We also review the <a href="https://www.redseaglobal.com/">Red Sea Project&rsquo;s</a> luxury resort plans. We take a sneak peek at the ambitious <a href="https://qiddiya.com/">Qiddiya Project</a>, meant to be the capital of sports, entertainment and art when it begins to open later this year. We see development plans for the Asir Region, as well as the various projects and sub-projects to be developed within <a href="https://www.neom.com/en-us">NEOM</a>, the &lsquo;city of the future&rsquo;.

&nbsp;

To read more about Saudi&rsquo;s history, tourism strategy and dive deep into each of the Mega and Giga Projects that are shaping the new Saudi Arabia, <a href="https://lucidityinsights.com/reports/diriyah-and-the-giga-projects-defining-the-new-saudi-arabia">read the full report here.</a>

Spotlights

Where Sports & Culture Meet at the Diriyah E-Prix

Jerry Inzerillo on His Legacy Role Helping Saudi Build Its Own Tourism Legacy

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Get to Know Saudi Arabia's Giga Projects, each worth over US$10 Billion