As Saudis ring in the New Year, some are doing it at 250 km/h. The first Six Flags theme park outside North America opens today in Riyadh’s Qiddiya, the long-promised “city of play,” led by Falcon’s Flight — a roller coaster marketed as the world’s tallest, longest, and fastest (outstripping the 240 km/h Formula Rossa at Abu Dhabi’s Ferrari World), whose descent mirrors a falcon diving on prey. With most theme parks in the kingdom either seasonal or decades old, expectations are high, and anticipation has been building for months.
Qiddiya, which the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund expects will attract 48 million visitors annually once complete, is part of a broader push to use leisure and entertainment to help diversify the economy away from oil. Tourism currently accounts for about 5% of Saudi GDP, with the government targeting 10% by 2030.