Saudis Promise Fun Year in 2018 With 5,000 Entertainment Events
- Kingdom’s to spend $64 billion on entertainment over 10 years
- Saudi Arabia has lifted a ban on cimenas, women driving
Visitors play air hockey at a indoor family theme park in the Al Yasmin mall in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Photographer: Tasneem Alsultan/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Known for decades as the home of the religious police and stringent public decency laws, Saudi Arabia now hopes to transform itself into an entertainment hub.
With more than 5,000 live shows, festivals and concerts planned in 56 cities nationwide this year, the kingdom will invest 240 billion riyals ($64 billion) on entertainment infrastructure over the next decade to put itself on the global tourism map, the chairman of its General Entertainment Authority said.