That may be their stance on it but you're saying this as if by merely stepping foot in the country as a homosexual will have you arrested and executed. They respect visitors will have different sexual orientations, all they'd ask is you keep it private and not public during your stay....would that really be so hard?
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That may be their stance on it but you're saying this as if by merely stepping foot in the country as a homosexual will have you arrested and executed. They respect visitors will have different sexual orientations, all they'd ask is you keep it private and not public during your stay....would that really be so hard?
Llama
TS Member
You can only do the math for yourself, and it's all arbitrary in the sense that every country on the planet containing roller coasters has either done something terrible or is in the process of doing something terrible, but in the case of Saudi Arabia and the UAE the benefits, which in this case are just the ability to ride a handful of roller coasters, are completely outweighed by the negatives: financial support and legitimisation-through-tourism of political regimes that I fundamentally disagree with on quite literally every possible topic
I suppose it all comes down to what you can tolerate, I don't necessarily agree with policies in UAE and Saudi but I can tolerate them for a short time. I've been to Dubai myself and found it to be an amazing place to visit, extremely clean, safe, friendly and welcoming with world class attractions and I would almost certainly go back at some point.
There is the other factor that regardless of how long you visit an area for, even popping in and out to visit a theme park, you’re directly contributing monetarily towards that countries economy and thus through taxes, their government. If that money is going directly, or indirectly towards regimes with questionable track records of human rights, current draconian views on sexuality and gender, it’s not something I could ever support.
I’d love one day to ride Falcons Flight. It looks absolutely absurd. But sadly, even as a person who’d be ‘safe’ to pop over to Saudi Arabia, I don’t think there is going to be enough governmental and societal progress in the region within this coasters lifespan for me to defy what I stand for.
Maybe if it was 700ft tall.
Danny
TS Contributor
Dubai and Riyadh aren't comparable. One has been heavily tweaked to accommodate tourists with an extensive degree of Westernisation. The other is a business hub through and through. Yes, I also felt safe in Dubai and noticed the cleanliness, but my Riyadh visit was the polar opposite. It isn't geared for tourism. Yes, there are things to do, but it's certainly not in the scope of Dubai.
Look beyond the glamorous business hub centre and Kingdom Tower, and the outskirts closest to Qiddiya are not welcoming to Westerners in the slightest. It was quite the eye-opening experience for all the wrong reasons. And even then, Qiddiya is still miles away in the desert with nothing surrounding it.
I fully accept that as I have never visited Riyadh myself although I understand its a very safe and welcoming city to western tourists.
I expect they have predicted attracting tourists to the region will be a challenge given some of the points you raised and there will be plans to counter this I'm sure. I can't accept they have invested at this level only to attract local visitors, I personally will be waiting to see how it goes over the next 6-12 months before making any travel plans but my intention is to make sure I get on Falcons Flight at some point.
Danny
TS Contributor
As I say, it's very different to Dubai. My arrival at Dubai International versus King Khalid International set the tone perfectly. One is efficient with plenty of friendly staff on hand to help. The other was being pulled for aggressive questioning following bag claim (I'd already passed border control at this point) before being harassed by a gang of taxi drivers. I had very few friendly encounters in Riyadh, despite my best intentions throughout the week. Given that this will be the first port of entry and impression for anyone travelling to Qiddiya, it's not great. The seemingly lawless roads don't make it any better either.
Of course, Qiddiya was never intended for locals; it's part of the wider vision to turn the tide for Saudi tourism, along with the likes of Red Sea Global and NEOM. But this will take years and years to come to fruition. Sure, Six Flags (and Aquarabia) will likely get their doors open in the next 12 months, but nobody will be there. The UAE parks have low visitorship, and they're situated close to two of the world's largest travel hubs. Qiddiya, as it stands, is over an hour from the nearest major airport, with literally nothing else to do within a 40-minute drive. Two parks out in the middle of a desert with zip all else to consider won't be appealling to the majority. It was bad enough visiting the Dubai parks which are established in tourist areas, yet simply don't attract tourists. It's not about people wanting the parks to succeed/fail regardless of political/personal stances. They categorically, on paper, will not attract people because there is no emphasis on encouraging tourists to that region, yet.
Personally, I want Qiddiya to succeed. It's vastly ambitious and puts a lot of my hobbies and passions into one central location. But the simple fact is it will fail to attract a huge quantity of internal visitors over the next 2-3 years, yet alone tourists.
Besides, there's only so much fun that can be had when being launched on a coaster into 40c sweltering heat.
I have a friend who periodically works out in Saudi for the boxing events that have taken place and he had nothing but praise for the place, I'm a little surprised reading this. However I have zero personal experience of travelling there so I'll take your opinion at face value and believe it to be true.
I visited the parks in Dubai 3 years back and as you say they were absolutely dead, I never had the chance to go to Abu Dhabi due to Covid restrictions at the time but by all accounts it seems they're no different. What I find interesting is this doesn't seem to deter them from continuing to build more and more with Disneyland coming next.
RicketyCricket
TS Member
The only reason people rave about living/working over there is because of their quadrupled salaries.
I've got a mate who works in Saudi. His wife stays in their luxury apartment all day as she's barely allowed to do anything outside of the house. They are very much looking forward to moving back once he's earned enough money.
Saudi Arabia are hosting the World Cup in 2034 (
) and I'd imagine it will be a lot more tourist friendly by then. Much like how Dubai/Qatar have developed in recent years.
I've got a mate who works in Saudi. His wife stays in their luxury apartment all day as she's barely allowed to do anything outside of the house. They are very much looking forward to moving back once he's earned enough money.
Saudi Arabia are hosting the World Cup in 2034 (
) and I'd imagine it will be a lot more tourist friendly by then. Much like how Dubai/Qatar have developed in recent years.
Bowser
TS Member
By all accounts the parks are extremely seasonal out there. Whilst not heaving by UK standards you can find various vlogs from some of the more prominent accounts that show the parks as quite busy during the winter months.
Might have been the Coaster Studio trip where they were struggling to get on some rides, though I think the poor ops didn’t help. It will be interesting to see their various accounts of this new park considering they’ll likely be some of the first visitors.