Middle East Business

Second of fourteen Saudi entertainment destinations opens at Tabuk

By Staff Writer  |  23 August 2026

SEVEN Tabuk has come into operation eleven days after the first destination in the programme opened at Abha, an indoor venue trading from four in the afternoon until the small hours.

Saudi Entertainment Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qiddiya Investment Company, has opened SEVEN Tabuk. It is the second destination in the company's programme to come into operation, after SEVEN Abha, which opened on 5 August as the first completed project of fourteen planned across the country.

The venue is fully indoor and all weather, and sits inside the city rather than on its edge. It trades from 4pm to 1am at weekends and from 4pm to midnight on weekdays, with the cinema operating daily from 4pm until 3.30am. The attractions include an exploration themed experience called Discovery Adventures and an electric karting circuit built around a licensed toy brand, alongside the company's own concepts covering bowling, indoor golf, a children's play format and cinemas.

Tabuk marks the continuation of SEVEN's journey as it takes shape on the ground. Our focus is on developing entertainment destinations that are accessible, welcoming, and closely connected to the communities they serve, offering experiences that visitors can return to as part of their everyday lives.

Abdullah Al Dawood, Chairman of Saudi Entertainment Ventures

Eleven days between two completions

The interval is the part of this worth recording. Two destinations in the same programme, in cities more than a thousand kilometres apart, reached operation eleven days apart. That is a delivery pattern rather than a coincidence, and it says the programme is being run to a rolling completion sequence rather than project by project.

Anyone benchmarking a multi site leisure or retail programme in the country now has two completed reference points from the same client, built to a common brief, with a common set of attractions and a common operating model. Until 5 August there were none.

A repeated venue type across a fourteen site programme means the same design, the same specification and the same commissioning sequence run twelve more times. Whatever was learned on the first two will decide the cost of the rest.

What has not been published

No contract value has been given for the Tabuk destination, and no built area, contractor, consultant or construction period has been published for it. The first destination at Abha was recorded at more than 91,000 square metres of built up area and a value of 1.5 billion riyals; nothing comparable has been issued for Tabuk, so the two cannot be compared on size or on cost.

Nor has the company said which of the remaining twelve destinations is next, or where. It says the Tabuk venue supports local employment and partnerships with businesses in the city, and has given no headcount for either.

Abdullah Al Dawood described the opening as the programme taking shape on the ground. On the evidence of two openings inside a fortnight, that is a fair description of the delivery rate. Whether it holds across the other twelve is the question the next completion answers.