Saudi Arabia will host the 2029 Asian Winter Games

Saudi Arabia has won the bid to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games. They will be held in a mountain location being planned in the Arabian Gulf, is the Neom project, and will cost the state 500 billion dollars. 

It will offer outdoor skiing, an artificial freshwater lake and a nature reserve, according

.

"With the unlimited support of the Saudi leadership and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to the sports sector we are proud to announce that we have won the tender to host Awg Trojena2029 as the first country in West Asia," said the Minister of Sport, the Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal said on Twitter (see below).

Neom is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's most ambitious project as

part of the kingdom's Vision 2030 development plan to reduce dependence on oil and transform the economy, including by developing sport.

The local tourist board boasts the slogan: “Tourists in Neom will be able to snorkel and ski on the same day”. 

It is a 26,500 sq km (10,230 sq mi) high-tech development on the Red Sea.

A climate paradox that is unlikely to be zero impact as the organizers promise.

The entire Arabian Peninsula is one of the largest and driest desert areas in the world. 

On March 3, 2022, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched the Trojena project, the first major outdoor skiing destination in the area.

Located in the highest mountain range in Saudi Arabia, approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) off the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, with altitudes between 1,500 and 2,600 meters (4,900–8,500 feet).

The site is cooler than the rest of the Neom territory, but snowfalls are infrequent.

The snow will be mostly artificial. 

Previously, the Asian Winter Games have been held since 1986 in Japan, China, South Korea and Kazakhstan.

The controversy

After the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, some advisers on the Neom project, such as Daniel L. Doctoroff and star architect Norman Foster, have distanced themselves from Mohammed bin Salman's ambition.

The Crown Prince's futuristic vision also incorporates some technologies that don't yet exist, such as flying cars, robot maids, dinosaur robots, and a giant artificial moon.

It is estimated that 20,000 people will be forced to relocate to host the planned city.

But it is above all the exploitation of migrant workers that worries international observers, because in Saudi Arabia there is the Kafala system, a form of legalized neo-slavery.

Also, to make way for the project, the Saudi authorities are evicting members of the Howeitat tribe from their historic homeland. 

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Neom in Saudi Arabia