Saudi Arabia is seeking private sector investment for Hijaz Eye, a proposed landmark Ferris wheel attraction in Madinah valued at SAR511m, around $135m.
The project has been listed on the Invest Saudi platform, which presents investment opportunities across the Kingdom’s priority sectors. Hijaz Eye is planned for a 33,700 sq m site in Madinah and is being positioned as a major visitor attraction that would offer panoramic views across the city.
While the proposed height has not been disclosed, the scale and value of the project indicate a significant addition to Madinah’s destination infrastructure. For attraction developers, investors and destination planners, the scheme highlights Saudi Arabia’s continued use of large-scale leisure and visitor experience projects to widen its tourism economy.
The project sits within the wider Vision 2030 agenda, which places tourism growth, cultural participation and private capital at the centre of economic diversification. It also reflects a more focused effort to develop visitor experiences around religious destinations, where annual footfall is already substantial but supporting leisure and cultural infrastructure remains a growth area.
Supporting The “Umrah Plus” Strategy
Madinah is one of the world’s most important religious destinations and receives millions of visitors each year connected to Hajj and Umrah travel. The Hijaz Eye proposal is aligned with a tourism strategy often described within the sector as “Umrah plus”, which encourages pilgrims to extend their stays through additional cultural, heritage and entertainment activity.
According to Ministry of Tourism data cited in the project material, Saudi Arabia recorded 14 million international religious visitors in 2025, making religious tourism the country’s largest visitor segment. Domestic religious tourism is also significant, with around 14 million Saudi residents travelling for religious purposes, including approximately 6.5 million visitors to Madinah.
These figures demonstrate the commercial opportunity for visitor experiences that complement religious travel. For investors, the scale of existing demand reduces the need to create a destination market from scratch. Instead, the challenge is to develop attractions that fit the context of Madinah, support longer stays and increase visitor spend without disrupting the city’s primary religious role.
Private Capital And Destination Development
Invest Saudi estimates that the Hijaz Eye project could deliver investor returns within approximately seven years. Its listing alongside more than 2,200 opportunities on the platform reflects the Kingdom’s broader push to attract private participation in tourism, culture, entertainment and infrastructure projects.
For the attractions industry, this is important because Saudi Arabia is not only commissioning major state-led destination schemes. It is also creating routes for private investors and operators to participate in specific assets within high-demand locations.
A Ferris wheel can serve multiple functions within a destination strategy. It can act as a visual marker, provide an accessible paid attraction, support night-time activation and offer commercial opportunities through ticketing, retail, hospitality and partnerships. In a city such as Madinah, careful design, operations and crowd management will be especially important due to the volume and nature of religious visitation.
Relevance For Global Experience Operators
The Hijaz Eye proposal reflects a wider trend in the Gulf, where tourism authorities are using recognisable attraction formats to extend destination appeal and diversify visitor activity. For global operators, suppliers and design teams, the project could create opportunities across ride systems, lighting, queue management, ticketing technology, guest services, safety operations and integrated destination planning.
Its long-term success will depend on how well the attraction is integrated into Madinah’s broader tourism ecosystem. Location, transport access, visitor flow, cultural sensitivity and operational reliability will all affect commercial performance.
As Saudi Arabia continues to develop tourism around its religious and cultural assets, Hijaz Eye points to a more layered destination model for Madinah. The project is not intended to replace the city’s core purpose, but to add structured visitor infrastructure that supports longer stays, broader engagement and private investment under Vision 2030.
