The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete and redirect to Dubailand#Zones. Spartaz ^Humbug! 18:04, 22 March 2018 (UTC) reply

Sahara Kingdom

Sahara Kingdom (  | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – ( View log · Stats)

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Only primary sources are listed, and the stub is written like an advertisement. The park's construction stalled over 5 years ago, and I was unable to locate any solid secondary sources confirming that the project will ever resume. Propose the article be deleted until better sources turn up. GoneIn60 ( talk) 02:56, 7 March 2018 (UTC) reply

• Delete I agree, the stub is written like an advertisement. Ergo, the article is too promotional in tone and style. TH1980 ( talk) 03:18, 7 March 2018 (UTC) reply

Note: This discussion has been included in the list of United Arab Emirates-related deletion discussions. MT Train ^Talk 04:57, 7 March 2018 (UTC) reply

• Strong Delete I can't find any reliable sources about this place, the "official website" is not registered, and the content itself is copied directly from a wikia article. -- Elisfkc ( talk) 18:09, 7 March 2018 (UTC) reply

No, per the Wikia's edit history, the wikia article was copied from Wikipedia in 2012, and at first included a link to the wikipedia article, which was deleted in the only subsequent edit there. The wikipedia article was started in 2009. Please do note the Dubailand.wikia.com article is part of a wiki about Dubailand, which I argue below is the natural target for a redirect. -- Doncram ( talk) 17:50, 18 March 2018 (UTC) reply

• Delete Although I've never edited it, this has been on my watchlist for over a year and I've searched several times for evidence that this is even under construction and failed. Doug Weller talk 10:10, 9 March 2018 (UTC) reply

• Comment The "news" search on "Sahara Kingdom" yields hits from multiple sources, including:
  • • World's Strangest Theme Parks feature crocodiles, dwarves ... Mirror.co.uk-May 19, 2016 "... which aims to educate visitors about sex. Elsewhere there are plans for new £40billion park in the Dubai desert into six zones, one of which will be called The Sahara Kingdom, and another in France based all around the exploits of Napoleon. Here are the most unusual places to visit around the world."
    • Dubailand development to be ready in two years / Construction Week Online-Mar 16, 2014 "A senior executive at Saudi's Al Hokair Group says its long-awaited Al Sahara Kingdom hotel and entertainment project in Dubailand should open in “a couple of years”. The Al Sahara Kingdom has been master-planned over a 50mn ft2 area in Dubailand , the delayed real estate development backed by ..."
    • Dubailand project expected to open in 2016 / Hotelier Middle East-Mar 18, 2014 Story image for "Sahara Kingdom" from T"he National
    • UAE looks to capitalise on all the fun of theme parks / The National-May 8, 2016 "But the global financial crisis of 2008 put a stop to many of these plans with dozens of projects including Universal Studios Dubai and Sahara Kingdom suspended. So what has changed this time around? “The difference this time around is that the plans are being spearheaded by the Governments of Dubai ..."
    • Saudi firm flags 2016 for Dubailand project opening / ArabianBusiness.com-Mar 14, 2014 "A senior executive at Saudi's Al Hokair Group says its long-awaited Al Sahara Kingdom hotel and entertainment project in Dubailand should open in “a couple of years”. The Al Sahara Kingdom has been master-planned over a 50 million sq ft area in Dubailand, the delayed real estate development backed ..."
    • Why entertainment is the key to Dubailand's fortunes / Emirates 24/7-Apr 29, 2012 "The Al Sahara Kingdom has been master-planned over a 50 million square feet area in Dubailand. The project is set to include two four-star hotels – to be run by Al Hokair-owned Mena Hotels & Resorts, an indoor theme park, restaurants, residential areas and a retail souk. A senior official of a Dubai-based ..."
    • Saudi developer set to restart Dubailand project / Construction Week Online-Mar 3, 2012 "Saudi Arabia-based developer Al Hokair Group is planning to resume construction on its stalled Al Sahara Kingdom hotel and entertainment project in Dubailand in 2013, its deputy CEO has said. The Al Sahara Kingdom has been master-planned over a 4.6 hectare area in Dubailand , the delayed real ..."
    • Interview: Saudi Arabia's Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al Hokair / ArabianBusiness.com-Apr 5, 2014 "Asked about the project in 2012, Al Hokair deputy CEO Sami AM Al Hokair told ITP publication Hotelier Middle East that construction on Al Sahara Kingdom would resume in 2013 with phase one to open in 2014. Two years later and Mishal Abdul Mohsen Al Hokair now suggests the opening is more likely ..."
    • KSA's MENA Hotels and Resorts means business / Hotelier Middle East-May 16, 2012

This seems like fairly substantial coverage about a plan which hasn't yet been implemented. I dunno how to !vote here. -- Doncram ( talk) 01:20, 13 March 2018 (UTC) reply

• Delete even though it was reported as being built in 2014, it appears that the construction was suspended by 2016. Burroughs'10 ( talk) 21:42, 13 March 2018 (UTC) reply

• Redirect [was "Merge"] The 2016 "UAE looks to capitalise on all the fun of theme parks" article cited by Burroughs above seems to document something big. There surely needs to be an article or list-article about theme parks in UAE, how about Theme parks in the United Arab Emirates (currently a redlink). Merging/redirecting coverage about Sahara Kingdom into that would be clearly superior to deleting it outright. We are supposed to search for wp:ATD. -- Doncram ( talk) 01:53, 14 March 2018 (UTC) reply

• Delete per nomination and WP:TOOSOON. - The Gnome ( talk) 11:44, 14 March 2018 (UTC) reply
• Comment: update Unknown to all participants here, it turns out there is a world-wide list system covering theme parks, i.e. List of theme parks -> List of amusement parks. I created a redirect from Theme parks in the United Arab Emirates to the already-existing section, List of amusement parks in Asia#United Arab Emirates, which has a subsection for Dubai, which already listed numerous parks and a few planned-but-not-yet-completed projects. I added Sahara Kingdom there. However, as stated in its article Sahara Kingdom is a planned park within larger Dubailand, which has a longish article including a passage on Sahara Kingdom which includes pretty much everything in the current separate article. Redirecting to that passage seems appropriate. Also the Dubai subsection in the list-article (accessible by List of amusement parks in Dubai) also now includes a subsubsection for planned or cancelled projects, which also would be an okay redirect target. But Dubailand appears to be the better target. There is coverage about Sahara Kingdom in above sources whether or not GNG is met (for there to be a separate article), and the project also could revive, so it makes sense to cover it in the parent organization/park article.

People, please note that we are intended to find alternatives to deletion, where possible, which is the case here. Outright deletion is not appropriate, as that does not serve readers seeing mention of this place and searching for it, and it would lose contributions history of development about the topic, if/when a standalone article is again warranted. I first !voted "Merge" above, but change that to "Redirect" now, as there is not substantial info in the article which is not already included in the target ( Dubailand). -- Doncram ( talk) 07:20, 16 March 2018 (UTC) reply

The sources found above might support redirection as a suitable alternative to deletion, but it's important to take into consideration that Dubailand as a whole is still a project in the midst of a decade-long struggle. Some of these sources are simply stating Sahara Kingdom as a passing mention without much detail. How many of the announcements seen in the press were ideas that were modified or cancelled? Is the current state of the whole theme park still uncertain? While Dubailand may technically deserve its own article, I'm not sure we need redirects for each of the proposed elements and ideas within that project. Doing so could rub up against WP:NOTPROMOTION and WP:NOTDIRECTORY. Verifiability doesn't guarantee inclusion, and we want to avoid the unintended consequence of allowing something in that may never receive any closure in secondary sources. In the amusement park world, this happens a lot. You hear a lot about proposals that never solidify, or when they do, it's demise/removal may never get reported. A redirect isn't the end of the world in this situation, but deletion may not be either. -- GoneIn60 ( talk) 09:50, 19 March 2018 (UTC) reply

• Redirect to Dubailand#Zones - this is WP:TOOSOON. TimTempleton ^{(talk) (cont)} 20:41, 21 March 2018 (UTC) reply

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.