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Six Flags Qiddiya| Saudi Arabia | Theme Park

Ethan said:
The guy is also a "high ranking member of the Saudi Foreign Ministry". Of course he's going to say this. It's like me asking Jeff Bezos if he recommends getting an Amazon Prime account.
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Ofcource he will do everything to sell his country, that's his job, but he gave me his card and told me to call him when I visit. Overall he seemed like a genuine guy.

I fully respect the choice to not visit these types of countries. My dad also refuses to join me when I go to the UAE, Israel, Cuba, etc for similar reasons. Personally, I believe in visiting new places to experience what they have to offer and see their culture. Even if I dont agree with it. I always think it's the people themselves who shall create and demand change, not foreigners. My only choices are to either visit or not visit. Both are perfectly honorable choices. The problem is just that when refusing to visit places on ethical grounds you mostly don't have any place to go on earth.

Maybe one day I will be able to be in Saudi, watching the red sea sunset with a beer in one hand and a bloke's shaft in the other. That day might one day come. Untill then my straight acting skills are pretty good.

On an other note. I am also quite baffled by Saudi Arabia's push for the "mass market" tourism segment. With these kinds of restrictions that will be difficult. Only the ultra luxury and niche segments would work.
 
ChristianPalsson said:
Personally, I believe in visiting new places to experience what they have to offer and see their culture. Even if I dont agree with it. I always think it's the people themselves who shall create and demand change, not foreigners.
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Pretty hard for them to do in Saudi Arabia, where even peaceful demonstrations are forbidden and lead to awful punishment.

ChristianPalsson said:
The problem is just that when refusing to visit places on ethical grounds you mostly don't have any place to go on earth.
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I agree that any place you visit will have flaws and laws you may not agree with, even my own country has them. But I would be careful with this, as some countries are objectively worse than others. It's like when people refuse to vote because "all politicians are as bad as each other". That's simply not true, there are dangerous people out there. Italy, for example, hasn't legalised gay marriage, but I can easily visit there knowing that I will not be punished for being myself. Saudi Arabia is not like this, not all countries are equal.
 
Ethan said:
Pretty hard for them to do in Saudi Arabia, where even peaceful demonstrations are forbidden and lead to awful punishment.
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And this recent story demonstrates that perfectly

www.bbc.co.uk

Salma al-Shehab: Concern for Saudi student jailed for 34 years over tweets

Salma al-Shehab, a Leeds University PhD student, called for reforms and the release of activists.
www.bbc.co.uk

34 years in jail followed by a 34 year travel ban for a women who tweeted against the regime.

Any bluster coming from officials that the country is changing and improving its human rights laws is constantly shown to be complete rubbish. It's all part of this kind of tourism washing they have going on. "If we show we have good tourist destinations people might ignore the fact we haven't changed"

The acquisition of Newcastle United football club is another link in this chain of trying to make themselve seem better than they are.

I've been to some countries others might shirk at, Turkmenistan, Libya, Myanmar (2 of those for work) for example but even for me Saudi is a step too far. There has to be a line.

Putting someone essentially in jail for 68 years for a tweet isn't culture, it can't be put down to "well that's how they do things there you should respect it and visit anyway" it's flagrant human rights abuse from essentially a dictatorship that's scared of anyone speaking against them. Nothing to do with culture at all.

And yes it means I may miss some coasters in the long run but I think I can live with that.

I guess you could argue that these tourism projects will force change, the stupid decision to give Qatar the world cup for example has arguably improved workers conditions in the country now the world is watching, is it enough though? No, is it going to stay that way as soon as the world's attention is else where? Probably not.
 
TPoseOnTantrum said:
I understand that there’s been a lot of debate about whether the project will ultimately come to fruition, but is this worth moving to construction?
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Yeah, I reckon this seems fair. They're at least attempting to construct something... :p
 
TPoseOnTantrum said:
Over at the waterpark, vertical work has finally begun. These foundations will make up the giant artificial mountain in the center of the waterpark, which will hold several slides;
https://twitter.com/x/status/1561471311268007937

I understand that there’s been a lot of debate about whether the project will ultimately come to fruition, but is this worth moving to construction?
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I'm really excited for this project since it's 40 minutes away from me, and there is no coasters in the country, but I'm starting to get worried that it's not going to happen, it's supposed to open next year 2023 but they barely started working in the project.

Please correct me if there's any mistakes in the spelling or grammar English isn't my first language
 
MLDesigns said:
No scenario under the sun will see this park open in 2023, it's still quite a few years away. To be honest, even the preliminary groundwork & earthmoving is farther than I expected this park/project to go. So actual construction is exciting to see.
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It could also be that the project has made it all the way to the "let's get some equipment and workers on site to show investors there is ongoing activity, perhaps a few more will take the bait before we hightail it to Bahamas with most of the money" stage. That wouldn't be unheard of either.
 
Pokemaniac said:
It could also be that the project has made it all the way to the "let's get some equipment and workers on site to show investors there is ongoing activity, perhaps a few more will take the bait before we hightail it to Bahamas with most of the money" stage. That wouldn't be unheard of either.
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I suppose one advantage of it being in Saudi is if you are going to run off with all the money and reveal one of the Saudi Governments corner stone tourism plans to be a scam you better have a good escape plan and know how to disappear. That's one regime you don't want to piss off I'd imagine.
 
roomraider said:
I suppose one advantage of it being in Saudi is if you are going to run off with all the money and reveal one of the Saudi Governments corner stone tourism plans to be a scam you better have a good escape plan and know how to disappear. That's one regime you don't want to piss off I'd imagine.
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This. Everyone is so quick to call this project a money laundering scheme while conveniently forgetting or simply not realizing that there is a literal mountain of financial backing behind this project, and I'd think we'd be hard pressed to see anybody try and con the Saudi prince. I'd have to do some digging to find them again but the last time I saw numbers I want to say there was somewhere around $5B allocated for the whole entertainment district. AND considering the fact that we've already seen plenty of pictures of extensive infrastructure work (roadways, sewer system, numerous building foundations, etc) that's well along, they're certainly passed the "let's feign progress by just pushing piles of dirt around while stealing VC money" phase.
 
Intamin is hiring for a construction manager to position in Riyadh for a "large scale and iconic project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia", estimated to be "for about 2 years (possibly more)";
 

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Christian said:
To me that seems way too optimistic. Going from desert to park in 2 years.
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Tricky part is out of the way. They've already spent the last 2 years on serious groundwork and even some early foundations. It's more of a construction site right now rather than a desert, which is an achievement and already farther than anyone thought they would get. They should make a lot of progress over the next 24 months, not counting an opening.
 
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