Saudi Arabia

The country has regsitered one of the highest adoption curves of contactless payments in the world over the past three years, with the overall share of contactless payments reaching 95% during the period

Interactive screens in six languages have been installed to facilitate visitors' access to the ritual sites; the initiative of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques is part of the plan to improve the orientation system

The three-week-long Saudi Design Festival is part of a move towards city-wide activation that will put design at the centre; it was founded by Basma Bouzo, who says she took the challenges of the pandemic and used them as an opportunity to ground them

Light shows illuminated the facades of 58 palaces in the archaeological village of Dhee Ayn in Baha to celebrate the addition of Arabic calligraphy to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list

Riyadh Season 2021, which opened on 20 October with its wide offer of entertainment, recorded over six million visits, with more open access areas continued to receive people every day

The Jafurah $100bn plan has been allocated; the country will thus become the largest shale gas producer outside the US

The 3rd Red Sea Film Festival kicks off today in the Jeddah Old Town district: film enthusiasts have received accreditation for the inaugural in-person edition of the most anticipated film event of the year after two years of virtual events

The country decided to set an age limit for pilgrims and permits to perform Umrah for overseas Muslims are limited to those aged 18-50; they must also be fully vaccinated with vaccines recognized in the country to obtain an electronic entry visa

As temperatures drop, the country prepares for winter tourism - growing and mostly still national; among top destinations are Wadi Disah in Tabuk, AlUla, Riyadh’s Edge of the World, the Nafud deserts, Al-Ahsa Oasis and Al-Qura Mountains for hikers

Thank to rising oil prices, Aramco is the world's most profitable company in Q3, beating tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Apple, as well as other listed energy companies

The country has launched 'The Rig' which, with a surface area of 150.000 square metres, is the world's first offshore platform tourism destination

Measures continue to be taken to further protect vegetation and combat desertification in the country, which aims at planting 50 billion trees in the world's biggest reforestation project

At least 89 US citizens, legal permanent residents and visa holders and their relatives have been detained by authorities in Saudi Arabia or banned from leaving the country in 2021, according to a new report by Freedom Initiative