Saudi Arabia’s new city of the future, Neom, isn’t looking quite so glamorous just yet.
A wave of vloggers and micro-influencers have been posting on social media about their lives in the still-developing desert city — and their posts are kind of falling flat.
The $500 billion Neom project — championed by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the centerpiece of his Vision 2030 plan to diversify the country’s economy — bills itself as “a land of the future where the greatest minds and best talents are empowered to embody pioneering ideas and exceed boundaries in a world inspired by imagination.”
The government hoped that Neom’s megacity “The Line” — which would be a long thin city between tall mirrored skyscrapers when completed — would draw 1.5 million residents by 2030, but that lofty goal has since been reduced to about 300,000.