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This video by Rebel Media claims at 4.10:

Saudi Arabia has 100,000 air-conditioned tents sitting empty in the desert. They can hold half a million people ...

Is it true?

Sakib Arifin
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    Of all the nonsense in that video, why choose this particular claim? – Oddthinking Dec 11 '16 at 12:00
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    @Oddthinking Cause I wasn't sure if this claim was nonsense or not. It showed a picture that seemed quite convincing. – Sakib Arifin Dec 11 '16 at 12:31
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    500,000 people / 100,000 tents = 5 people/tent – Michael Dec 11 '16 at 15:41
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    @Oddthinking : And, as it turned out, it was not a complete nonsense. – vsz Dec 11 '16 at 20:35
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    @vsz: My concern is the picking out of this one, easily-Googleable fact from a propaganda video containing plenty of mistruths is giving the rest of the video an aura of accuracy. – Oddthinking Dec 11 '16 at 23:27
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    The wording of this question is unclear and problematic, as @Oddthinking said. "air-conditioned tent sitting empty" is the present participle, implies it is both currently a) empty and b) air-conditioned. Not "empty tent used one week a year which has air-conditioning [when it's occupied]". – smci Dec 12 '16 at 03:14
  • @Oddthinking can you please tell me what are these *all the nonsense in that video*? – Salvador Dali Dec 12 '16 at 05:03
  • @Salvador: Comments are not for extended discussion; [let's go to chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/49953/discussion-on-question-by-mohammad-sakib-arifin-does-saudi-arabia-have-100-000-a). – Oddthinking Dec 12 '16 at 06:47

1 Answers1

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Yes, the city of Mina has 100,000 air-conditioned tents. They are empty much of the year.

More info:

Mina is a small city located inside a low lying valley in the province of Makkh, in western Saudi Arabia, about 8 km to the east of the Holy city of Mecca. Inside the 20 square km valley, tents cover every open space, as far as the eye can see, neatly arranged, row after row. It is in these tents Hajj pilgrims stay overnight during the five days of each Haj season. For the rest of the year, Mina remains pretty much deserted.

There are more than 100,000 air-conditioned tents in Mina providing temporary accommodation to 3 million pilgrims. The tents measure 8 meters by 8 meters and are constructed of fiberglass coated with Teflon in order to ensure high resistance to fire. Originally pilgrims brought their own tents which they would erect in the flat plains of Mina. After Hajj is over, the tents would be dismantled, everything packed and taken back. Then sometime in the 1990s, the Saudi government installed permanent cotton tents relieving pilgrims of the burden of having to carry their own camping equipment. But after a massive fire that swept through the tent city killing nearly 350 pilgrims in 1997, the current permanent fire-proof city was built.

Wikimedia offers a picture:

Photo from mountainside of the tented areas covering the Plain of Mina, Saudi Arabia

Photo from mountainside of the tented areas covering the Plain of Mina, Saudi Arabia

A satellite view of the tents shows the enormous extent of this tent city. (Hat tip: @Janik Zikovsky)

The existence of this tent city should not be interpreted as support for the rest of the propaganda in the Rebel Media video. For example, we have had answers here before that explain that the "zero refugees" is explained by legal definitions of refugees rather than a lack of support of Syrians. The existence of the tents, designed to handle the annual pilgrimage, doesn't imply that the logistics of using them to support 500,000 permanent residents is easy.

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Oddthinking
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    The satellite view of Mina shows the tents: https://www.google.com/maps/@21.4119939,39.8941781,1359m/data=!3m1!1e3 – Janik Zikovsky Dec 11 '16 at 14:33
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    Side note: this claim is usually in support of the idea that the Saudis could house a bunch of refugees in them. I suspect, though, that the infrastructure to support millions for a week would not be the same as the infrastructure to support millions year-round. Sanitation, trash, medical care, security, etc. would all be vastly different tasks. – ceejayoz Dec 11 '16 at 18:01
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    One might similarly count the number of vacant hotel rooms in Miami (or most ski resorts) in the summer. – jamesqf Dec 11 '16 at 18:45
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    Just to be clear - the AC is not running all year round, right? This isn't some giant sinkhole of electricity I presume? – David says Reinstate Monica Dec 11 '16 at 19:20
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    @DavidGrinberg - The Saudis have a near-limitless supply of ultra-cheap oil. What seems expensive to us in the west is a literal drop in the ocean for them. – Richard Dec 11 '16 at 21:02
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    I doubt they would be running the air conditioning when not needed, even so. And Saudi Arabia is running a big deficit at current oil prices. – pixel Dec 11 '16 at 21:15
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    @Richard Sitting on a bunch of oil doesn't mean you actively burn money on 100k ACs that no one uses. Rich =/= stupid. – David says Reinstate Monica Dec 11 '16 at 21:27
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    The use of the phrase 'air conditioned tents' means that the video is claiming that the air conditioning is on. Whether that is 24/7, or just at the exact moment the video was filmed is unclear. However, what is clear is that the statement is incorrect, and likely deliberately misleading, even if it is somewhat close to being true. – Scott Dec 11 '16 at 23:57
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    @Scott: I don't think that is a fair interpretation of the term. It could quite reasonably mean "fitted with an air-conditioner". That was my initial interpretation, and so I didn't find it misleading. – Oddthinking Dec 12 '16 at 00:24
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    @oddthinking if you went into a store on a hot day, with a sign on the front "this store is air conditioned for your comfort", would you be disapointed if the A/C was turned off? – Scott Dec 12 '16 at 01:30
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    Yes, if it were a hot day and the store were open. If it were a cool day or the store were closed, I wouldn't point to the sign and claim it was misleading. These tents are 'closed' 51 weeks per year. – Oddthinking Dec 12 '16 at 02:07
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    @Scott, I saw your point until I reread *"air-conditioned tent sitting empty"*. That's the present participle, implies it is currently a) empty and b) air-conditioned. Not *"empty tent used one week a year which has air-conditioning [when it's occupied]"*. – smci Dec 12 '16 at 03:12
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    I've been there when its empty, no one is there, its like a dead city, and no the ACs are not running lol – achabacha322 Dec 12 '16 at 23:32
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    "The existence of the tents, designed to handle the annual pilgrimage, doesn't imply that the logistics of using them to support 500,000 permanent residents is easy." To be fair, it also doesn't imply the opposite. I would rather say: "The existence of the tents may hint at a certain capability to support refugees, but alone it would not be sufficient." – NoDataDumpNoContribution Dec 13 '16 at 09:41