Saudi Arabia will be offering financial incentives to carriers to fly routes that have so far been considered to be unprofitable helping them to link these destinations to major global cities.  With an ambitious goal to attract 100 million tourists a year by 2030, direct connectivity would definitely help, especially when it’s a destination that has opened to tourists only as recently as 2019.

In September 2019, Saudi Arabia inaugurated tourist visas just months before the coronavirus pandemic decimated the industry globally.  An uptick in domestic travel in 2020 and 2021 -- authorities tallied a record 64 million "domestic visits" last year -- helped save the nascent Saudi tourism sector from collapse, and now authorities want to seize more of the international market, Saudi Minister of Tourism Ahmed Al Khateeb, said in an interview.

The KAUST Future Talent Conference attracted more than 500 participants from across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), including talent acquisition and human resources (HR) executives, as well as university researchers, faculty, staff and students.

Tea aficionados got the chance to taste all manner of varieties of their favorite beverage at the Tea Colors International Exhibition, which wrapped up Tuesday at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center.  Tea, along with coffee and dates, is one of the drinks traditionally offered as a show of hospitality in Saudi Arabia.

Massive, miles-long buildings, expected to be the world’s largest, are to be part of the futuristic Saudi gigaproject NEOM, according to a Bloomberg report. The twin skyscrapers about 500 meters (1,640 feet) tall would stretch horizontally for dozens of miles.

The Middle East’s green hydrogen market is set for a major boom in the coming decades, on the back of a global market that is set to reach $700 billion by 2050, according to a report by Arthur D Little.

In its report titled ‘Paving the way for green hydrogen’, the global management consultancy explores the role green hydrogen will have in the future energy mix, concluding that green energy “can be a key technology to bridge decarbonization ambitions.”

Saudi Arabia’s megacity NEOM is preparing to issue tender documents to complete construction work on an infrastructure corridor that will connect its industrial city, OXAGON, with other elements of the $500-billion project, in northwest Saudi Arabia, MEED reported.

Also known as NEOM Industrial City, OXAGON was formally launched in November 2021, and will be built around the Duba seaport in the southwest corner of NEOM and will include onshore elements and floating structures offshore.

NEOM launched a regreening initiative to plant 100 million native trees, shrubs and grasses by 2030, the official Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday.  The initiative, which was launched in collaboration with the National Center for Vegetation Cover and Combatting desertification, will also involve rehabilitating at least 1.5 million hectares of land, repairing wildlife habitats, and aiding the restoration of degraded land.

Contrary to an earlier (unofficial) statement Saudi Arabia has no plans to legalise alcohol — either at futuristic megacity NEOM or in a bid to draw more visitors, assistant minister of tourism Princess Haifa bint Mohammed said on Wednesday. The princess was asked, in a panel session about Saudi Arabia at the World Economic Forum, on the possibility of offering alcohol in new destination such as NEOM.

Princess Haifa said the kingdom has been “doing well” in attracting visitors since launching tourism e-visas in 2019 and that rules would remain “the same”.