EGO TRIP
Saudi Arabia insists first part of $500bn NEOM Megacity WILL be open this year with ultra-lux island resort
The 'smart city' will stretch over an area 17 times the size of London
THE FIRST part of Saudi Arabia's $500billion Neom megacity will open to visitors this year, it has been revealed.
Luxury travellers will soon be able to experience the futuristic island resort of Sindalah in all its glory and stay in one of three grand hotels.
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The island, planned by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is one of the Middle East's most ambitious urban developments.
Its planners have pitched it as an "exclusive gateway to the stunning Red Sea", fit for big spenders and the global yachting community.
Sindalah will be the first physical showcase of Neom, an otherworldly gigacity launched in 2017 by Crown Prince Bin Salman in Tabuk.
Neom, meaning "new future", currently has more than 3,600 staff from 97 countries living and working onsite.
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At completion, the "smart city" will stretch over a space of 26,500km2 - almost 17 times the size of London.
It was revealed by Neom on Sunday, at the end of a tour courting Chinese investors, that Sindalah will open to the public this year, according to , meaning the island will be the first physical showcase of Neom.
The glitzy resort will include a beach club, a yacht club, a spa and wellness centre, and 51 luxury retail outlets, as well as three opulent hotels with more than 400 rooms and 300 suites, and a large marina.
Concept pictures of the holiday destination showed modern villas with extraordinary ocean views and plenty of greenery.
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The Saudi government's focus on the luxury market is said to be an attempt to distinguish itself from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Middle East expert Kristian Coates Ulrichsen told Business Insider: "The Saudis are increasingly pushing themselves toward a high-end luxury market, which is what Sindalah and, to some extent, some of the other Red Sea projects are going to cater for."
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Saudi Arabia is aiming to attract between 100 million and 150 million visitors by 2030 with the help of projects such as Sindalah.
The island resort is one of the more realistic elements of Neom's plans, which also includes mirrored sideways skyscraper The Line.
Just this month, it was revealed that plans for the 170km-long Line - which was supposed to house 1.5 million residents - had to be dramatically scaled back to a 2.4km building that will house 300,000.
The Line is hoped by Crown Prince Bin Salman to "shine a light on alternative ways to live" and will be created out of mirrored glass in the Tabuk Province, facing Egypt across the Red Sea.
Expert Dr Ulrichsen said Sindalah is "less ambitious in scope and scale" than The Line, which might mean it is more realistic to open first.
The realities of some of the trillion-dollar investments included in the Crown Prince's Vision 2030 plan - of which Neom is the most expensive and ambitious project - are said to have caused some alarm at the highest level of Saudi Arabia's government.
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