Saudi Arabia has been confirmed as the host nation for the FIFA World Cup 2034, making it the second Gulf nation to host the event after Qatar in 2022. FIFA president Gianni Infantino confirmed the decision Wednesday during a virtual conference.
The result isn’t a surprise since the kingdom was the only bidder, but it shows the rapid changes in Saudi, which only opened for international tourism in 2019.
2034 is four years after Saudi is expected to have fulfilled its Vision 2030 plan to become a tourism hub. By the end of the decade, it wants 80 million domestic tourists a year and 70 million international.
Hammad Albalawi, Saudi Arabia’s head of the FIFA World Cup 2024 bid unit said in a pre-recorded video: “We predict the best-ever World Cup. Don’t think football tournament, think football festival. Singing, dancing, arm in arm, feeling safe and feeling together. We will bring more teams and more fans to one place than ever before.”
Here’s what that means for tourism, and what Saudi will have to do to make sure it goes smoothly.
Tourism and Sports
A flourishing sports economy is a principal focus of Saudi’s ruler Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Arabia in recent years has used sports stars to help improve its global brand image. Both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are signed on to Saudi leagues and serve as unofficial brand ambassadors for the country.
Some have labeled it “sports washing” but it’s a term MBS has no problem with.
In a 2023 interview with Fox News, MBS said: “If sports washing is going to increase our GDP, then we’ll continue doing sports washing. I don’t care. I have 1% GDP growth from sports, and I want another 1.5%, call it whatever you want, but we’re going to get that percentage.”
Human Rights and Worker Safety
Qatar faced criticism over human rights and the safety of its workers. Saudi Arabia will face similar scrutiny.
Norway’s football federation stated Tuesday that the bidding process “challenges trust in FIFA.” It further said that FIFA’s guidelines for due diligence were not adhered to, “increasing the risk of human rights violations.”
An independent report commissioned by a prominent law firm’s Saudi branch in October, which was submitted to FIFA as part of the bidding evaluation, faced backlash from human rights organizations for neglecting to address the alleged abuse of migrant workers.
Last month, Amnesty International called on FIFA to cease the bidding process, warning that it could “worsen an already dire situation” and stating that “fans will face discrimination, residents will be forcibly evicted, migrant workers will face exploitation, and many will die” if the Saudi-hosted tournament proceeds.
FIFA has new regulations for any host country that specifically address complying with the United Nation’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
In FIFA’s bid evaluation report published in November, Saudi received a score of 4.2 out of 5 in terms of its capability to host the event – the highest score ever given out. It focused on a range of measures, such as infrastructure, commercial projections, sustainability, safety, and compliance with laws.
FIFA listed “human rights” as a “medium” risk for Saudi to overcome by 2034.
The report said: “In view of the significant ten-year timeframe for implementation and the rate of progress seen in recent years, it is believed that there is good potential for the tournament to serve as a catalyst for some of the ongoing and future reforms, and contribute to positive human rights outcomes for people in Saudi Arabia and the region that go beyond the scope of the tournament itself.”
In Saudi Arabia’s bid book sent to FIFA, it said: “Guided by the FIFA hosting requirements, we are committed to leveraging all available tools to develop and implement a robust human rights strategy. With full government support under Vision 2030, we established a dedicated working group to ensure that the strategy is implemented effectively, and the hosting of the Competition adheres to Saudi Arabia’s international commitments to human rights.”
The Saudi Tourism Authority did not respond to a request for comment.
Accommodation
Accommodation was a big issue in Qatar as the tiny island country had to squeeze an entire World Cup into one city. Saudi won’t face the same issue since it has proposed five host cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar, Abha and NEOM.
In FIFA’s bid evaluation, it states: “The bidder [Saudi Arabia] states that each of these cities has undergone significant developments as part of the broader Vision 2030 in the kingdom, seeing each invest heavily in tourism infrastructure in recent years to support an expanding tourism sector and to successfully host major events across sport, arts, culture and business.”
