Asian Winter Games 2029 to be held in Saudi Arabian futuristic city

Saudi Arabia has won the bid to host the Asian Winter Games in 2029, near the US$500 billion futuristic city project of Neom. The Games will be held in Trojena, as it is planned to be a year-round ski resort by 2026. The resort will feature outdoor skiing, a man-made freshwater lake and a nature reserve. The desert and mountains of the country will soon be a playground for Winter sports, according to the Olympic Committee. Sports minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, says the winter sports project “challenges perception,” while he presented the plan to OCA members. The minister described the area as being comprised of around 60 square kilometres at an altitude ranging from 1,500 to 2,600 metres.

“With the unlimited support by the Saudi leadership & HRH Crown Prince to the sports sector, we are proud to announce we have won the bid to host AWG TROJENA 2029 as the first country in western Asia. Trojena is the future of mountain living.”

Nadhmi al-Nasr, the Neom chief executive, said the city will have a suitable infrastructure to create a winter atmosphere in the heart of the desert. Nadhmi says the atmosphere will make this Winter Games an unprecedented global event. Neom, a 26,500 square kilometres high-tech development on the Red Sea, will include a zero-carbon city called “The Line” as well as industrial and logistics areas.

Funding for the project is from the Saudi Public Investment Fund. The country will also host the Asian Games in 2034 in Riyadh as part of its Vision 2030 development plan to diversify the economy, reduce the country’s reliance on oil, and build a sport hosting portfolio. The futuristic city of Neom is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s most ambitious project under the kingdom plan.