Saudi Arabia’s tourism industry has drawn about $13 billion in private sector investment, adding thrust to its campaign to attract international travelers.

The money will pay for the addition of 150,000 to 200,000 hotel rooms over the next two years, Princess Haifa M. Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s vice minister for tourism, told Bloomberg.

Government projections call for $85 billion in tourism revenue in 2024, up from $66 billion last year.

The kingdom has been on a spending spree to spruce up historical sites such as the desert city of AlUla and the Diriyah section of Riyadh with luxury hotels and high-end restaurants.

It has also staged gaming conferences, MMA (mixed martial arts) matches and hip-hop concerts to attract younger visitors from abroad.

Abu Dhabi’s G42 shared its latest progress on building a network of nine supercomputers, a massive project first announced last year and undertaken in partnership with U.S. semiconductor startup Cerebras Systems.

The aim is to equip the UAE’s flagship artificial intelligence firm with access to some of the fastest and most efficient computing power in the world to train its large language models like Jais, an Arabic-and-English bilingual LLM and Med42, which is being deployed in healthcare. 

On Wednesday, G42 said it had broken ground on the third phase of its Condor Galaxy supercomputer network, this one located in Dallas, Tex.

The new high-performing hardware is powered by the industry’s fastest AI chip as Cerebras looks to compete with market-dominating chipmaker Nvidia. 

G42 also announced the commercial rollout of BoardNavigator, an AI technology developed with Microsoft as a corporate strategy and governance assistant.

The AI tool will analyze large proprietary and public data sets to support board members in their decision-making processes, the company said.

UAE conglomerate International Holding Co. (IHC), chaired by UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed – who also chairs G42 – is the first customer. 

Saudi Arabia is looking to lure private capital to its local pro football clubs amid a push in the region to nurture a sports and leisure sector.

“We expect to have another wave of privatization coming up soon,” Vice Minister of Sport Bader Alkadi said at Bloomberg Power Players Jeddah on Thursday. “That gives us opportunity to make the investment in sport a sustainable investment.”

Saudi Arabia and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the UAE, have been on a spending spree to develop leagues and facilities to support athletics on the professional and recreational levels.

On Friday, Abu Dhabi Entertainment Company inked a deal with Sanad Strata and Solutions+ to update sports facilities across the capital.

Meanwhile, Dubai opened two new bike paths over the weekend as it plans over 600 miles of track. 

Abu Dhabi Global Market, the UAE capital’s financial Free Zone, boosted its roster of companies by 447 last year, a 32% increase, as it grew into one of the world’s largest financial districts.

Assets under management increased 35%, according to a statement released on Thursday. 

Among the 1,825 firms in the ADGM at the end of 2023, newcomers included Brevan Howard, Ardian, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, SBI Capital, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Apollo and Vibrant Capital.

Another 125 companies are in the process of seeking to set up shop in the ADGM.

Hong Kong’s Infini Capital announced that it received preliminary regulatory permission to establish an office and, upon final approval, would become the first Asian hedge fund in the ADGM.

The conference circuit will give way to the Iftar and Suhoor circuits in the Gulf as Ramadan is expected to begin next Monday or Tuesday.

The Holy Month brings about one of the quietest times for deal activity and events in the region as hours are shortened for workers across sectors to make room for daylong fasting and more time spent with family. 

Working hours are reduced by government mandate, typically to five hours a day in the public sector in the GCC countries, and private companies tend to follow suit.

Last year, venture capital activity dropped 41% in funding and 64% in the number of deals compared to the same period in 2022. The plunge in activity was partly attributed by data platform Magnitt to the timing of Ramadan – which had occurred later in 2022. 

The official start date of the Holy Month is typically announced when countries’ respective moon-sighting committees, made up of religious leaders and astronomers, spot the crescent moon, which marks the beginning.

This means the official announcement for the start of Ramadan 2024 isn’t expected to be revealed until tomorrow or Sunday. 

Many companies with a Gulf presence will host an Iftar or Suhoor meal during Ramadan for employees and clients.

Tiktok’s Dubai office hosted a flower-draped Suhoor last year, bringing together content creators and employees, as well as Arabic calligraphers and sand art. 

Energia Foundation and Tabula Rasa Ventures, two research and investment firms that introduced psychedelics to the Davos crowd in 2022, have been promoting psychedelic-assisted therapy to policymakers, sovereign wealth funds and clinicians in the UAE, according to a statement.

“There’s still a lot of important research that needs to be done, but I’m hopeful that these medicines can expand the arsenal of tools we have,” Nahida Nayaz Ahmed, Chief Medical Officer at SEHA Mental Health and Well-Being Services, a unit of the ADQ-backed PureHealth, said.

Mubadala is reportedly eyeing investments in biotech companies developing psychedelic medicines. 

The two-year-old Dubai Future District Fund held its annual meeting from the Museum of the Future stage, revealing progress on its mission to boost founders’ access to Middle East capital and accelerate tech development.

The fund, which is anchored by the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) and the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), said on Wednesday it has allocated 20% of its initial Dh1 billion ($270 million) capitalization. 

The money has gone to 14 start-ups, three follow-on investments and six funds. Its portfolio leans heavily toward fintech and artificial intelligence ventures and venture capital, with Arbor Ventures, Beco Capital, Global Ventures and Cotu Ventures on the funds side and startups like Mamo, Lune and Nym Card taking investment. In total, DFDF has supported over 25 projects and nearly doubled the total headcount within those ventures. 

In a keynote speech, UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri talked about how the DFDF is aimed at building the country’s competitiveness and hinted at broader ambitions for the young fund, with massive opportunities in other sectors.

“The UAE is focused on activating opportunities within the circular economy, clean energy, smart transportation, sustainable aviation, and agricultural technology sectors with the aim of transitioning towards a diversified, knowledge-based economy,” he said.

Non-oil business activity in Saudi Arabia and the UAE picked up quickly in February, according to new data.

The kingdom’s economy rose at its fastest rate in five months, reaching its highest level since September 2023 following a slump to a two-year low in January, according to Riyad Bank. Expectations towards future activity were buoyed, while supply chains remained supported despite ongoing conflict in the Red Sea.

Meanwhile in the UAE, the latest index from S&P Global noted the fastest upturn since June 2019, as 38% of monitored firms noted a month-on-month increase in activity from new business, stronger client activity and more marketing and development work.

Anecdotally, Dubai Mall — a landmark of the Gulf’s economic diversification efforts — welcomed 105 million visitors in 2023, a 19% uptick from the previous year, making it “the most visited place on Earth in 2023,” according to its developer Emaar.