The entire world is witnessing an economic recession, where material losses affected vital sectors such as aviation, public services, tourism, health and education. This caused high unemployment rates to record levels, especially after millions around the world lost their jobs following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. This in turn affected per capita income and internal output, led to a decline in spending.
According to the world's economic indicators major projects should not be started in light of the current circumstances, as there is no guarantee of its success, especially if these projects are costly, not studied or calculated, for it would cause economic, development and administrative failure.
For the above given reasons, countries which are subject to monitoring by its legislative councils do not open such huge projects now, while countries in which there are no development plans, clear vision or responsibility adopt and promote for these projects. The “NEOM” project, which was launched by Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman in partnership with Egypt, Jordan and the Israeli occupation state, is the best example of this.
“NEOM” is not only a development project, but rather it is the teenager’s dream who wanted to delude the Saudi people that he is their savior and that he would put his country in the ranks of developed countries.
The project is similar in size to the country of Belgium, and the capital that will be pumped into it is estimated at $500 billion, an amount that most Arab countries do not possess in the normal conditions, and this is a good reason why NEOM is deemed to failure on the long term, even those in charge were able to implement one of the three stages.
The project location
The site on which the project will be built may be a strategic location for the Arab countries, but at the international level it has absolutely no importance. According to official economic reports, Jordan is on the brink of severe economic crisis, therefore the impact of “NEOM” on Jordan economically will be severe, as the project and its planning paper reveal that Saudi is seeking to revive the Saudi desert. If we assume the success of the tourism side of “NEOM”, this would bring an end to all tourism in Jordan, especially tourism in villages close to Saudi Arabia, including Petra region in southern Jordan.
Tourism in the Egyptian cities of Sharm el-Sheikh, Taba, the rest of the coasts and beaches on the Red Sea will also be severely affected.
Traditional Project
The plans of the Saudi project, “NEOM”, reveals that it is just a traditional project, similar to Dubai, Doha and other global cities that have undertaken extensive development plans to change its image and attract investments.
The world is full of pioneering ideas with impressive results and profits, and usually the traditional projects do not succeed easily, unless they are above expectations.
Since Saudi Arabia is neither America, Canada, Australia, nor a piece of Europe, the world does not need to have tourism in its desert as long as there are better alternatives. For this reason, many experts expect this project to have no future in the long term, especially in a coutry characterized by totalitarian rule, the one opinion, direction and will; a country that is not subject to independent regulatory or legislative institutions. It is impossible for such country to make implement the dream of the boy, who found himself overnigh the crown prince of a major country and who is not qualified to rule.
