Saudi Arabia’s global entertainment ambitions are taking shape. The setting may be a world away from the desert landscapes of Qiddiya City outside Riyadh, but the ambition is strikingly familiar: build an entertainment destination large enough to become a reason to travel in its own right.
Following the conclusion of the Esports World Cup in Paris, France and Saudi Arabia have unveiled a €6 billion (US$7 billion) agreement to build three major theme parks in Cergy-Pontoise, roughly 30 kilometres northwest of Paris. The deal was announced on August 24 during an official visit by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, who attended the tournament finale. The mega-project will be spearheaded by Qiddiya Investment Company, the entertainment entity backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). It is anticipated that the US$7 billion project will generate approximately 22,000 direct jobs, a figure comparable to the employment generated by Disneyland Paris.
For Saudi Arabia, the significance extends well beyond the scale of the investment. The project represents a new phase in the Kingdom’s strategy to build expertise, intellectual property and influence in the global entertainment industry — and to export that ambition beyond its borders.
Three parks, one major new destination
The development is planned as a wider mixed-use leisure destination incorporating entertainment, hospitality, culture and sport, with up to three theme parks.
One of those parks is expected to be dedicated to Dragon Ball Z, the globally recognised Japanese manga and anime franchise. The themes of the other two parks have not yet been announced. The Dragon Ball connection is particularly intriguing. According to reporting by French newspaper Le Monde, the idea grew from a conversation between Macron and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh in December 2024, when the two discovered a shared enthusiasm for manga, particularly Dragon Ball Z.
Qiddiya Investment Company is also developing a Dragon Ball theme park in Qiddiya City near Riyadh; meaning the French project would create another major Dragon Ball destination within Qiddiya’s growing entertainment portfolio.
But, why Paris? Cergy-Pontoise is situated approximately 30 kilometres north-west of Paris, putting the development within the wider Paris tourism ecosystem while giving it considerably more space than would be available in the city itself. The project is expected to be built on the site associated with the former Mirapolis theme park. This geographical proximity to Paris gives the entertainment destination access to an enormous existing visitor base, while its scale and international intellectual-property partnerships could help encourage visitors to make it a standalone part of a French holiday.
There is, however, no opening date yet. The Élysée Palace said construction is expected to take several years.
Mutual investment in economic growth
Overall, this new Saudi-backed project is slated to create 22,000 direct jobs in France, offering indication of the project's potential economic impact. Arab News and Politico.eu note that these jobs will all be tied to the construction, operation, and maintenance of the three theme parks, including park staff, entertainers, hospitality workers.
The investment is also significant within the context of France's tourism economy, particularly because theme parks can generate spending well beyond admission tickets. With the opening of this entertainment zone will come the need for and the development or redevelopment of hotels, restaurants, retail, and transport infrastructure. As with any major project the surrounding attractions, towns and cities will all benefit when visitors extend their stays.
The project also comes at a time when Saudi Arabia is increasingly positioning entertainment as an economic sector in its own right. The Kingdom's Vision 2030 strategy aims to diversify the economy away from oil, and Qiddiya is tasked with developing entertainment, sport and culture as major contributors to that transformation. The French project provides an unusual demonstration of that ambition: Saudi capital and entertainment expertise being used to create a destination in Europe rather than solely within the Kingdom.
Saudi is investing in entertainment - globally
It would be easy to reduce this announcement to the novelty of a US$7 billion Dragon Ball Z theme park. (The franchise will undoubtedly be one of the project's biggest attractions, particularly given its global fan base.) But the larger story is arguably more significant. For years, Saudi Arabia's major tourism announcements have focused on building new destinations at home: from AlUla and the Red Sea to Diriyah and Qiddiya. Now, one of the Kingdom's most ambitious entertainment developers is taking its model abroad.
Saudi Arabia is attempting to become a major player in the global leisure and entertainment economy, and this project gives that ambition an international platform. The Paris project is particularly notable because Saudi Arabia has traditionally positioned itself as a destination seeking to attract international travellers. Increasingly, however, the Kingdom is also becoming an investor and developer in international entertainment. The three-park development could ultimately combine intellectual property, hospitality, culture, sport and entertainment in a single destination: an approach that closely mirrors the mixed-use entertainment districts being developed inside Saudi Arabia.
Through Qiddiya, Saudi Arabia is building a portfolio that spans theme parks, gaming, esports, sport and entertainment. Qiddiya City itself is being developed as a major entertainment and leisure destination outside Riyadh, while the company has also been associated with the Kingdom’s broader ambitions to establish new forms of tourism and leisure under Vision 2030.
The investment in this major entertainment project in France effectively takes this model overseas. Rather than simply encouraging French or European visitors to travel to Saudi Arabia, the project puts a Saudi-backed entertainment proposition directly into one of the world's most established tourism markets.
Disneyland Paris has established the region as one of Europe's major theme-park destinations, President Macron's office has described the development of this new entertainment destination as the biggest project of its kind in France since Disneyland Paris originally opened in April 1992, under the name Euro Disney Resort.
The message behind the €6 billion or US$7 million commitment is already clear. Saudi Arabia is no longer only building destinations for the world to visit. It is beginning to build destinations for the world, too.
