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$347 Million Saudi Entertainment Destination Announced
SEVEN Abha will feature 8 huge attractions, including a family entertainment center with world-class rides, arcade games, and VR areas.
SEVEN (Saudi Entertainment Ventures), a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), has announced plans to build its 5th entertainment destination in the Kingdom after a $347 cash injection.
The new park will be strategically located between Abha and Khamis Mushait, near the Abha International Airport. The plans for the project are impressive, with eight different zones spanning a total area exceeding 79,000 square meters.
Renowned architectural and design studio Gensler drew inspiration for the park from the ancient stone buildings indigenous to the Aseer region. Meanwhile, the plans follow The Urban Code of Aseer Region, prioritizing “excellence in urban planning, design, landscape, and architecture”.
Prince Turki bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Chairman of the Aseer Development Authority (ASDA), commented: “The Aseer region is experiencing an unprecedented renaissance across various sectors, thanks to the unwavering support from our leadership. SEVEN’s entertainment destination in Abha is a key project for Aseer, supporting our ambition to become a year-round global destination”.
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Chairman of SEVEN, Abdullah AlDawood, added, “Abha represents another ambitious project as part of our efforts to bolster the entertainment sector throughout the Kingdom. By 2030, we anticipate a GDP contribution exceeding SAR 4 billion and over 5 million visitors. Moreover, this project will create hundreds of direct and indirect job opportunities for the people of Aseer”.
SEVEN Abha will feature eight distinct zones or attractions, including a family entertainment center with arcade games, world-class rides, and virtual reality areas. Additionally, Discovery Adventures, a jungle-themed edutainment attraction, has been developed in partnership with Warner Bros, and there will also be a PLAY-DOH-themed entertainment center courtesy of Hasbro.
Finally, the massive entertainment site will offer indoor golfing, live entertainment, multi-level e-karting, futuristic bowling, and a 10-screen AMC cinema.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
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The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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