NEOM has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Saudi Electronic and Mental Sports Federation (SEFMA) as part of its efforts to become a global e-sports capital and international tourist destination. The signing ceremony took place in Riyadh as part of the launch of the new e-tourist visa.
The agreement will allow for possible collaboration with (SEFMA) to support NEOM’s efforts to host the first e-sports event in 2020 and place it on the global map.
Mental and electronic sports games rely directly on mental abilities and develop and promote the performance of the human mind by continuously training, regardless of the mental capacity of the person, and thus exercise and revitalization of the human mind and a firm arena to prove the intellectual elites in societies.
Saudi Arabia has great potential in the area of electronic sports, where there is interest in these sports by the sons of the Kingdom of both genders, and 21% of the young category in the Kingdom play electronic games weekly, according to the newspaper “Middle East”.
Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, Chairman of the Saudi Federation for Electronic and Mental Sports, said that NEOM has all the components to be a global capital for e-sports and we are committed to being a partner of NEOM in its journey to achieve this goal.
Jean Patterson, Director-General for Sport at NEOM, said: “We see e-sports as an important part of what we offer at NEOM and follow our ambition to be the favoured destination for living and tourism for the young generation who make up the majority of e-sports lovers. and we are happy to cooperate with the Saudi Federation to achieve our goals. “
