- Some guests at Saudi Arabia's annual investment conference will have the chance to visit part of Neom.
- A group of visitors will be taken to Sindalah, an island retreat in the Red Sea, Bloomberg reports.
As guests descend upon Saudi Arabia for a major annual investment conference, some will have the opportunity to see the country's futuristic megacity, Neom, firsthand.
The Future of Investment Initiative will take place in Riyadh, the country's capital, from October 29 to 31. Each year, it attracts world leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and major business figures.
BlackRock's Larry Fink, Goldman Sachs' David Solomon, Citigroup's Jane Fraser, the London Stock Exchange's Julia Hoggett, and Citadel's Ken Griffin are among the CEOs set to speak at the conference, a program of events on its website shows.
Days before the conference begins, a select group of guests has been invited to visit Sindalah Island, per Bloomberg. Sindalah is a luxury island complex in the Red Sea off Saudi Arabia's west coast designed as a "unique escape" for visitors to Neom.
Sindalah will feature three luxury hotels, yacht clubs, golf courses, and pristine beaches, Neom's website says.
Showing off Sindalah will be the first time outsiders have been invited to Neom. It is unclear who will visit the island, but the group is made up of "financiers, entertainers and influencers," Bloomberg reports.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman first started work on the megacity in 2017, and clear details about the multibillion-dollar plan since then have remained relatively scarce, with glossy computer-generated images and social media content from workers giving the best insights into what it will look like.
Neom is one of the crown jewels of the Saudi Vision 2030 project, which aims to reduce emissions from food production, diversify the economy away from fossil fuels, and transform the country into a luxury tourism destination and innovation hub.
The Line, Neom's high-tech centerpiece, is expected to house more robots than people, while Neom will also have a year-round ski resort featuring artificial snow and theme parks that combine virtual and physical worlds.
Estimates for Neom's overall cost have reached as high as $1.5 trillion, while the official one is $500 billion.
Neom has come under international scrutiny for a number of alleged human rights abuses.
Malcolm Aw, the CEO and founder of Solar Water, pulled out of a $100 million contract when he discovered that Saudi Arabia had bulldozed villages to make way for the desert megacity.
In May 2023, UN experts expressed alarm at the risk of execution of three members of the Huwaitat tribe for reportedly opposing the project.
Neom did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.