Henry Chow

Highlights include a man-made freshwater lake and a vertical village that will merge technology, entertainment and hospitality facilities. It will serve as the main gateway into Trojena, which will feature six districts – Gateway, Discover, Valley, Explore, Relax and Fun.

“Travel will be augmented as a teaching tool. In the past, tourism meant visiting a place. Photos were 2D, but 3D travel then emerged with virtual headsets. 4D time experimentation is now possible. Now, we can mesh different time periods. There’s a teaching angle.”

Scindia is convinced that the metaverse is the future, as “A person usually visits a museum once,” but they can visit multiple times in the metaverse. She says that in India, especially, museums are not the first destination people think to go to for entertainment. Private museums in small towns can be taken for granted, especially when compared wi... See more

Trojena expects to attract 700,000 visitors and 7,000 residents by 2030. The destination will create more than 10,000 jobs and add SAR 3 billion to Saudi Arabia‘s GDP by 2030.

Trojena will be a first-of-its-kind experience, offering outdoor skiing in a desert climate. There will be a ski village and ski slope, as well as wellness resorts, an interactive nature reserve, retail outlets and restaurants.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced the establishment of Trojena, a new destination for mountain tourism in the kingdom’s $500bn city of the future Neom, set for completion in 2026.

Choi said, “In the metaverse, we can upload guns and recreate wars for historical teaching purposes.” Historical reenactments with reconstructed weapons happen all over the world, including in the United States, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and Italy, and there may be many future teachable moments in the metaverse.