Riyadh Season


Riyadh Season is a series of entertainment, cultural, and sporting events held in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. The event was introduced in 2019 by the General Entertainment Authority as part of the larger Saudi Seasons initiative in support of Saudi Vision 2030.

Summary

Riyadh Season is typically scheduled from October through March, falling between the early-winter and early-spring.
Riyadh Season involves seasonal events and experiences dispersed "zones" such as the Boulevard City, Boulevard World, Roshn Front, Al Malazz, and National Museum Park districts.
Major events such as concerts, music festivals, and sporting events are promoted under the banner held at venues such as Mohammed Abdo Arena and Kingdom Arena.
Several tourist attractions of the city are selected and are designated as entertainment zones.

History

Riyadh Season was introduced in 2019 as part of an initiative by the General Entertainment Authority known as Saudi Seasons, a portfolio of 11 regional cultural festivals that aim to promote tourism in Saudi Arabia in support of Saudi Vision 2030.
The inaugural edition of Riyadh Season resulted in a sizable increase in tourism during the period; the General Entertainment Authority estimated that the events collectively generated six billion riyals in revenue, there were at least 11 million visitors to the city during the 66-day period, a 106% increase in flight bookings to the city, and a 240% increase in bookings to one, two, and three-star hotels.
Riyadh Season was not held in 2020–21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It returned for 2021–22, extended through March 2022.
With COVID-19 restrictions eased, its opening ceremony was attended by 750,000 people in the boulevard district.
The 2022 opening ceremony set a record for the largest number of drones simultaneously launching fireworks. At least five million visitors attended events in the first two months of the period.
In October 2024, sports streaming service DAZN reached an agreement with the General Entertainment Authority making it the exclusive broadcaster of all Riyadh Season-sponsored events, including international distribution rights to all of its boxing cards outside of the Middle East and North Africa region.

Riyadh Season 2019–2020

The first edition of the festival was launched on October 11, 2019 and was set to end on December 11, but it was extended to January 2020 after the number of visitors exceeded 10 million.
On October 17, 2019, the opening parade of the first edition of Riyadh Season was held in Riyadh Boulevard zone with an attendance of more than 600,000 visitors.
It included 100 events that took place at 12 different zones, and was hosted under seven themes and experiences: Joy, inspire, taste, explore, fantasy, speed and desert.
The Taste theme originated in accordance with opening 31 restaurant from different cuisines all across the following zones:
  1. Riyadh Boulevard
  2. Riyadh Front
  3. Riyadh Car Exhibition
  4. Riyadh Winter Wonderland
  5. Riyadh Sports Arenas
  6. Diplomatic Quarters
  7. Al-Murabaa
  8. Al-Malazz
  9. Wadi Namar
  10. Riyadh Beat
  11. Riyadh Safari
  12. Riyadh Sahara

    Riyadh Season 2021–2022

The second edition of Riyadh Season was launched on October 20, 2021 and lasted until the end of March 2022.
It lies in an area measuring 5.4 million square meters in which it hosts more than 7,000 events at 14 different zones.
  1. Riyadh Boulevard
  2. VIA Riyadh
  3. Combat Field
  4. Riyadh Winter Wonderland
  5. Riyadh Front
  6. Al-Murabaa
  7. Riyadh Safari
  8. Al-Athriyah
  9. Riyadh Oasis
  10. The Groves
  11. Nabd al-Riyadh
  12. Zaman Village
  13. al-Salam Tree
  14. Khalooha

    Riyadh Season 2022–2023

The third edition of Riyadh Season was launched on October 21, 2022 and lasted until March 2023.
This included 8,500 activity days. This season had a principal of 15 zones in the Riyadh Boulevard and represented many cultures such as:
  1. America
  2. France
  3. Greece
  4. Italy
  5. India
  6. China
  7. Spain
  8. Morocco
  9. Mexico
  10. Qassim
The 2022 Riyadh Season also included 2023 Riyadh Season Cup, a friendly football match between Paris Saint-Germain and Riyadh XI held at King Fahd International Stadium on 19 January 2023.
The game received global attention as the game pitted Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two of the greatest football players in the world and the subject of intense debate, directly against each other for the first time since 2020, as Messi played for PSG and Ronaldo joined Al Nassr days prior to the friendly match.
PSG won the match 5–4.

Riyadh Season 2023–2024

The fourth edition of Riyadh Season launched on October 28, 2023 with new identity and tagline and title sponsorship from SNB.
The opener event, Battle of Baddest, featuring Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou, was held at Boulevard Hall on the same day.
This year's Riyadh Season was marked with the addition of Boulevard Hall, an indoor arena with a FIFA and AFC-approved football pitch capable of hosting various types of events with more than 40,000 spectators in attendance. It was fully opened in January 2024 and serves as the new home ground of Al Hilal
The following events took place as part of 2023 Riyadh Season:
There are 12 Zones in Riyadh Season 2023:
  • 1. Boulevard World
  • 2. Boulevard City
  • 3. Kingdom Arena
  • 4. Ramla Terraza
  • 5. VIA Riyadh
  • 6. Wonder Garden
  • 7. Food Truck Park
  • 8. Riyadh Zoo
  • 9. Roshn Front
  • 10. The Groves
  • 11. Souq Al Awaleen
  • 12. Suwaidi Park

    Riyadh Season 2024–2025

The fifth edition of Riyadh Season launched on October 12.
The following events took place as part of 2024 Riyadh Season: