AT FIRST it looks like we’re seeing the
latest instalment of the Star Wars movies. A
TV screen bursts into life, vivid images of
deep red rock and a sand-strewn landscape
beneath a cloudless bright blue sky. At any
moment you expect to see an X-wing
fighter scream across the screen, followed
by a volley of laser blasts from its pursuer.
But then reality kicks in, and what a
spectacle that reality is. Seven wing-suited
skydivers sail through the Arabian sky,
somersaulting, gliding and giving their
helmet-mounted Go-Pro cameras a real
workout for their money. The footage is
interspersed with close-up and long-range
shots of base jumpers and champion rock
climbers, including Saudi women’s
climbing star Yasmin Gahtani, scaling the
sheer face of a mountain.
This impressive demonstration of elite
adventure sport is the opening publicity
gambit to one of the most ambitious,
forward-thinking engineering projects on
the planet: NEOM, a brand new cross-
border development in Saudi Arabia, also
including land from Egypt and Jordan.
The daredevil skydives and desert cliff
climbing aren’t being done only for
publicity. NEOM is surrounded by glorious
landscape and its founders hope that both
residents and visitors will take full
advantage of the mountaineering and
adventure sports opportunities on offer
here. Their ambitious intention is that this
place will be home to the “healthiest
population on Earth”.Explore raw beauty
NEOM is situated in a varied mountainous
region, including peaks reaching up to
2,500m, alongside idyllic and peaceful
expanses of desert and untouched
beaches with more than 450km of pristine
coastline. The region is already popular
with hikers who fly into Tabuk and then
travel west to explore the coastal paths.
“The reason we chose adventure sports for
the first event in NEOM is because it’s a
beautiful environment and because sport
is right at the centre of what we want to
achieve,” says Jason Harborow, Head of
NEOM’s Future of Sport sector.
“NEOM is in a great geographical
position. It’s two hours’ less travelling timefrom Europe than Dubai, and crucially the
climate is about 10° cooler on average than
Riyadh, Dubai or Abu Dhabi.
“With a total area of over 26,000km^2 , the
potential for hiking is immense. The north
of the kingdom is considered one of the
most beautiful places in the region, and
much of that raw beauty is best experienced
on foot. Because the temperatures are
nowhere near as severe as other parts of the
country there’s the opportunity for trekking
in NEOM almost all-year-round.”Coming soon...
NEOM is currently a work in progress
–but things are moving fast. The first
phase of development will begin in a few
weeks – and that will include work on the
infrastructure needed to welcome tourists
and explorers, including an airport.
“NEOM is going to be Saudi Arabia’s gift
to the world,” enthuses Jason Harborow.
“It’s a beautiful corner of the country – an
incredible landscape and seascape with
lovely mountains. It’s going to be home to
the biggest thinkers, the most creative
people, the innovators – people who want
to really drive forward humanity and who
want to do things in a different way.
“We already have one of the most
beautiful venues for extreme sports in
place,” Harborow adds. “That’s not just for
jumping out of planes in wingsuits though.
If you want to do hiking, NEOM offers
that. If you want to do wakeboarding or
windsurfing or snorkelling and scuba
diving among coral reefs, it offers that too.
“We have the basic infrastructure for
this in place already – the roads and the
power and water. We’re now putting down
the support facilities we need to open it up
for business as soon as possible.”WHAT’S IN A NEOM?
NEOM is the flagship project of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 – a strategic plan to reduce the
country’s dependence on oil and to diversify its economy through the development of public
service sectors such as tourism, health, education and recreation. The name “NEOM” is
derived from two words. The first three letters form the Ancient Greek prefix neo- meaning
“new”. The fourth letter is from the abbreviation of Mostaqbal, an Arabic word meaning
“future”. The reported cost of this Saudi government-funded smart tourist city is $500bn.July 2019 The Great Outdoors 17ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE