Riyadh Season is back bigger and better.
The arts and culture festival begins on Wednesday with thousands of events planned across the Saudi Arabian capital over five months.
With so much announced and scores more to be unveiled, here are 10 things to know about Riyadh Season as it begins.
1. What is it?
Basically, a five-month party in Riyadh.
Organised by the General Entertainment Authority, Riyadh Season will host 7,500 events covering everything from music and arts to food and sport.
2. When is it?
The arts and culture festival begins on Wednesday and runs until March 2022. Expect nearly all entertainment in the city to run under the banner of Riyadh Season and to be marketed accordingly on social media.
3. Where is it being held?
Riyadh Season will take place in an area measuring 5.4 million square metres and will be spread across 14 thematic zones.
This includes the food and family hub of Boulevard Riyadh City, the luxurious shopping district of Via Riyadh, the family leisure area Winter Wonderland, the desert dunes of Riyadh Oasis and the cultural hub of Khalooha.
For the full list of zones, click here.
4. What's there to eat?
There will be plenty of dining options across all zones, with more than 200 restaurants and 70 cafes set to take part.
While details of the venues that have signed up for Riyadh Season will be revealed soon, what we do know is that Via Riyadh will be the place for high-end restaurants and Oasis Riyadh will offer local and traditional dining experiences.
Al Murabba zone will also be the setting for up to 10 restaurants and cafes making their debut in the kingdom.
5. Who will perform?
Music lovers are in for a treat, with 70 concerts featuring regional artists and six performed by international acts.
A couple of acts have already been announced for this month, with rapper Pitbull performing as part of the Riyadh Season Opening Parade on Wednesday at Boulevard Riyadh City.
The Egyptian Orchestra will also be performing in the zone on Thursday, November 28.
More concerts will be announced soon.
6. What happened to MDL Beast?
One of the world’s biggest music festivals will return as part of Riyadh Season and under new name: Soundstorm.
Running from Thursday to Sunday, December 16 to 19, in a purpose-built location in the outskirts of the city, the festival recently announced its first tranche of headliners, including Deadmau5, Tiesto, Steve Aoki, DJ Snake and electronic music pioneer Jeff Mills.
Also to be launched in the run-up to festival is the XP music conference, from Monday to Wednesday, December 13 to 15. The event will gather the music industry’s leading creative and business minds for three days of discussions, workshops and masterclasses. It will take place at Jax in Riyadh's art district.
7. There will be football tournament
Get ready to see the man, the myth, the legend Lionel Messi in the kingdom as part of the Riyadh Season Cup.
To be held in January 2022, the tournament will feature the star-studded Paris Saint-Germain side (including the Argentinian superstar, Brazil’s Neymar and France wunderkind Kylian Mbappe) alongside local clubs Al Hilal and Al Nassr.
8. See the Crown Jewel
The WWE will return to Saudi Arabia with wrestling spectacular the Crown Jewel set to take place in Riyadh's King Fahd International Stadium on Thursday.
The event will have WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending her title in a triple threat match against Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks.
The bout will mark the third WWE women's wrestling match to take place in the kingdom, with the first being the 2019 encounter between Natalya and Lacey Evans.
9. There will be safety measures in place
At present, Riyadh Season is following the health and safety protocols outlined by the General Entertainment Authority in August.
This means only fully vaccinated adults will be permitted to attend events and activities. Children under the age of 12 will be exempt from the requirement if they do not show any Covid-19 symptoms, including fever, a cough, a runny nose or sore throat.
Riyadh Season tickets can be obtained through the kingdom's track and trace mobile application Tawakkalna and through the website.
Prior to entry, adults need to show they are fully vaccinated on the app, while children under 12 can gain access under the status of ‘Uninfected’ or ‘Not Exposed’.
10. Where can I find more information?
With the festival running until March 2022, it is best to keep track of all the latest events from the Riyadh Season and General Entertainment Authority’s Instagram, Twitter and Facebook channels.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Expert input
If you had all the money in the world, what’s the one sneaker you would buy or create?
“There are a few shoes that have ‘grail’ status for me. But the one I have always wanted is the Nike x Patta x Parra Air Max 1 - Cherrywood. To get a pair in my size brand new is would cost me between Dh8,000 and Dh 10,000.” Jack Brett
“If I had all the money, I would approach Nike and ask them to do my own Air Force 1, that’s one of my dreams.” Yaseen Benchouche
“There’s nothing out there yet that I’d pay an insane amount for, but I’d love to create my own shoe with Tinker Hatfield and Jordan.” Joshua Cox
“I think I’d buy a defunct footwear brand; I’d like the challenge of reinterpreting a brand’s history and changing options.” Kris Balerite
“I’d stir up a creative collaboration with designers Martin Margiela of the mixed patchwork sneakers, and Yohji Yamamoto.” Hussain Moloobhoy
“If I had all the money in the world, I’d live somewhere where I’d never have to wear shoes again.” Raj Malhotra
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Federer's 19 grand slam titles
Australian Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Marat Safin; 2006 bt Marcos Baghdatis; 2007 bt Fernando Gonzalez; 2010 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Rafael Nadal
French Open (1 title) - 2009 bt Robin Soderling
Wimbledon (8 titles) - 2003 bt Mark Philippoussis; 2004 bt Andy Roddick; 2005 bt Andy Roddick; 2006 bt Rafael Nadal; 2007 bt Rafael Nadal; 2009 bt Andy Roddick; 2012 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Marin Cilic
US Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Lleyton Hewitt; 2005 bt Andre Agassi; 2006 bt Andy Roddick; 2007 bt Novak Djokovic; 2008 bt Andy Murray
Juliot Vinolia’s checklist for adopting alternate-day fasting
- Don’t do it more than once in three days
- Don’t go under 700 calories on fasting days
- Ensure there is sufficient water intake, as the body can go in dehydration mode
- Ensure there is enough roughage (fibre) in the food on fasting days as well
- Do not binge on processed or fatty foods on non-fasting days
- Complement fasting with plant-based foods, fruits, vegetables, seafood. Cut out processed meats and processed carbohydrates
- Manage your sleep
- People with existing gastric or mental health issues should avoid fasting
- Do not fast for prolonged periods without supervision by a qualified expert
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
