Saudi Arabia to host Formula One race in 2021 in Jiddah

Saudi Arabia will host a Formula One race next year, a move aimed at attracting well-heeled globe-trotting visitors and raising kingdom’s profile internationally as a tourist destination.

kingdom said Thursday it will host race in vember 2021 in Red Sea city of Jiddah, using scenic ros along coast.

Gulf locales including Manama, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, alrey host F1 races, which see A-list Hollywood stars, royals, billionaires, ministers and social media influencers gar for days of partying, discreet talks and deal-making.

Last year, 21 cities hosted races, but that has been scaled back this year because of coronavirus pandemic. Some cities in 2020 have hosted multiple races. Concerns about large crowds amid pandemic have also caused most races to be held without fans.

“Motorsports for us is very important,” Prince Khalid bin Sultan al-Faisal, chairman of Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, told Associated Press in an interview Thursday. “We would like to host se events as long as we can because our local people here in Saudi Arabia like to attend se events and be entertained and meet people from all around world.”

kingdom did t say how long it’s contract with F1 will last, but country has plans to build a race track in capital, Riyh, by 2030. Saudi Aramco, kingdom’s oil and gas giant, is alrey a global sponsor of heavily-sponsored race.

cost of hosting F1 could exceed $100 million, though Prince Khalid said he also expects it will generate revenue for Saudi Arabia as country races to diversify its ecomy away from dependence on export of oil, which has plunged to less than $38 a barrel amid weaker global demand.

One standout feature of Saudi race will be absence of champagne popping by winners and alcoholic bevers flowing in stands and at after parties. Consumption of any alcohol in Muslim kingdom is outlawed.

“ priority is for our own people. We assure that we're going to throw a lovely event, a nice event. People will t be concerned about if re is alcohol or t, y will come for event — t for alcohol," Prince Khalid said. “We are proud of who we are and how we do things in Saudi Arabia.”

kingdom has experience hosting electric Formula E series, which was held on outskirts of Riyh. Prince Khalid said international visitors n have respected cultural differences.

By hosting major sporting events, Saudi Arabia aims to draw attention to sweeping social changes underway in country and encour Saudis to turn ir attention to sports. Yet some big-name athletes have stayed away amid criticism events are also an effort at “sportswashing” by diverting attention from kingdom’s human rights record.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s reputation took a hit following international outcry over killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi nts in Turkey in 2018.

Human Rights Watch launched a campaign in October to counter what it says has been an effort by Saudi government to spend billions of dollars hosting major events as “a deliberate strategy to deflect from country’s im as a pervasive human rights violator.”

“If we wanted to cover anything up, we wouldn’t open up our country so people can come and see our country and meet our people and talk freely with m,” Prince Khalid said when asked about such criticisms. “Maybe we do some things differently than ors in world, but for us we are improving, we are opening up, we have thing to hide so re’s thing to wash.”

Hours before Saudi anuncement, U.N. women’s rights committee issued a statement calling for immediate release of Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, who has been imprisoned for two-and-a-half years on vague national security charges related to her calls for greater freedoms for women. 31-year-old al-Hathloul planned to start a hunger strike from prison last week amid multiple postponements of her trial.

She is among several activists, writers, ecomists and moderate clerics detained in recent years — part of a far-reaching crackdown on dissent overseen by Prince Mohammed as he consolidates power and pushes through an ambitious overhaul of kingdom.