Okaz newspaper

MANY people are erroneous in their understanding of the Qiddiya project. They see it only as an entertainment scheme. They believe that it would have been much better for the government to have implemented more pressing health and educational projects than this scheme.

In fact Qiddiya could be an investment project for the investors who will establish their entrainment projects on it and an entertainment project for the consumers who will benefit from its products and services.

However, for the government it is not just an investment or an entertainment project but it is rather an economic project, which will boost the GDP and create more job opportunities for the Saudi citizens.

Through the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the government will invest in the basic infrastructure of Qiddiya white lands, while most of the investment projects will be executed by foreign and local investors.

The government treasury will receive more returns from the investment licenses and the tax than it will spend on the basic infrastructure.

According to speculations, the Qiddiya project will add more than SR18 billion to the GDP while the projects will create jobs for tens of thousands of citizens to cater to the needs of the more than 17 million visitors who are expected to visit the entertainment facilities every year.

More than 12 million people are expected to benefit from the project's commercial sector while more than two million are expected to be accommodated in its hotels.

These figures will go up steadily until the project is completed by 2030.

The project is part of the government plans to establish the tourism industry to face challenges resulting from abandoning oil as a main source of income.

This industry has succeeded in many countries, which have made tourism the basic factor in their economies and the main generator of their jobs.

Qiddiya will keep the spending of the Saudi tourists inside and will attract the foreign tourist spending as well.