Few foreign tourists have been able to marvel at the ancient city of Hegra, hewn from desert rock 2,000 years ago in what is now Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, has now announced plans to draw millions of visitors to the site as he tries to rebrand his country as a glitzy tourist destination.
Like its more famous twin Petra, which lies 285 miles north in Jordan, Hegra was created by the Nabataeans, a mysterious people whose trade empire flourished from the 3rd to the 1st centuries BC.
The site and surrounding area of al-Ula, a former oasis for caravans crossing the desert, will be turned into a “valley of hospitality”, including resorts, thousands of new trees, 12 miles of palm tree groves and a new international airport.
Al-Ula, which the Prince of Wales visited in 2015, contains prehistoric remains and a mud-brick old town, which dates to 600BC.
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Analysts are unconvinced that the conservative Islamic kingdom, stained by human rights abuses and its carbon footprint as the world’s leading oil producer, could become attractive to non-religious visitors.
Announcing designs for the project yesterday, Bin Salman, 35, said: “Today we embark on a journey to preserve the world’s largest cultural oasis and advance our understanding of 200,000 years of heritage.”
The resort was due to open in stages from last October but progress has been slow on the “mega-projects” that form Bin Salman’s modernising agenda, Vision 2030.
The royal commission for al-Ula said it hoped to attract two million visitors a year by 2035. About 1.1 million visited Petra in 2019.
Madawi al-Rasheed, a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, is sceptical. “Saudi Arabia’s reputation has declined a lot in the last three years and it has failed to attract the foreign investment that it wanted,” she said.
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Saudi Arabia has pledged to invest £589 billion in new tourist facilities. The tourist board has paid westerners to promote al-Ula on Instagram, which al-Rasheed said represented double standards.
“The sight of white women posing and flaunting their attire creates the illusion of a country that has changed, while Saudi women have been detained for campaigning to drive a car or end forced wearing of the hijab,” she said.