Understanding Vision 2030’s impact on media perceptions of Saudi Arabia’s with Rawan Hashem; also, Hevolution’s rise, Tourism in KSA and much more

Episode 102! Rawan Hashem from the data insights firm Carma joins The 966 to discuss evolving media perspectives of Saudi Arabia and Vision 2030. Before the conversation, the hosts discuss the new organization in Saudi Arabia, called Hevolution, and its $1 billion mission to advance humanity’s fight against aging based on a recent Wall Street Journal article from this week. Then the hosts discuss the recent data out on Saudi Arabia’s tourism industry which show the Kingdom’s important new sector is growing rapidly. The hosts conclude as always with six top storylines to on Saudi Arabia this week.

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4:23 – Richard’s One Big Thing this week is Hevolution, and its $1 billion mission to advance humanity’s fight against aging based on a recent Wall Street Journal article from this week. The article noted has that the Kingdom allocated more than a billion dollars a year to the effort which “could dramatically expand the available global funding for research on longevity biology, which now comes mainly from the U.S. National Institute on Aging.” The article said that the Saudi foundation’s chief executive, Dr. Mehmood Khan, says “much of the initial grant money is likely to end up at universities and startups in the U.S., where scientists are trying to develop treatments that slow, prevent or even reverse the aging process for humans.”

13:58 – Lucien’s One Big Thing this week is Saudi Arabia’s tourism industry, which has put up some impressive numbers in 2023. Saudi Arabia only very recently rolled out tourist visas for visitors on September 28, 2019, months before the pandemic. Tourism revenues in Saudi Arabia tripled during the first quarter of 2023, reaching about $9.86 billion, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The Kingdom has recovered significantly since the COVID pandemic, hosting approximately 7.8 million tourists during the first quarter of the year. That number represents a 64% increase in the number of tourists so far in 2023, compared to the pre-COVID record year in 2019.

27:06 – Rawan Hashem from the data insights firm Carma joins The 966 to discuss evolving media perspectives of Saudi Arabia and Vision 2030.

1:06:00 – Yallah!

•The Saudi Esports Federation has announced a three-year partnership with American fast food company KFC. The partnership will focus on supporting local esports talent in the region by providing more opportunities to advance to international esports events.

•Saudi is planting 80 million trees in the Saudi Royal Reserves. The new forests will protect wildlife and are part of eco-tourism developments and the goal to attract 2.3 million tourists by 2030

•The second edition of the NEOM Beach Games is scheduled to start on October 21 and continuing to the end of November.

•Saudi Arabia and Russia said they would extend their cuts in oil supplies through for the rest of 2023.

•Saudi Arabia and Iran have reached a “groundbreaking” deal to resume home-and-away football matches between club sides after seven years of competing in neutral venues, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Monday.

•Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will fully acquire the Saudi Iron & Steel Company (Hadeed) from Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) in a $3.3 billion deal, as the kingdom seeks to accelerate its industrial development.