Red Sea Global driving sustainable tourism in Saudi Arabia

Who is Red Sea Global? 

Red Sea Global is a world leader in responsible property development and regenerative tourism. 

Our portfolio includes three world-leading destinations along Saudi Arabia's west coast. The Red Sea destination opened its first resort in 2023, will continue opening the 16 resorts of its first phase over 2024 and 2025, and will be completed in 2030, with 50 resorts. 

Thuwal Private Retreat will open as a single-hotel destination in 2024, while AMAALA's first phase with eight resorts is due to open in 2025 and will be completed in 2030 with 29 resorts.

We’re setting new standards for sustainability, and we welcome others in our industry to join us in proving that tourism can be a force for global good.

The Red Sea destination encompasses 28,000 square kilometres, an area that’s almost the size of Belgium. It’s massive and includes some 200km of coastline, more than 90 islands, and even a range of dormant volcanoes, though we’re only developing 1% of the area. With The Red Sea, we expect to create upwards of 70,000 direct and indirect jobs. 

What makes your Saudi Arabia developments sustainable? 

Our resorts will generate zero waste-to-landfill and ban all single-use plastics once operational. We’re also capping our annual number of visitors at both The Red Sea and Amaala to protect their precious ecosystems.

We’re led by science, and one of our first steps at The Red Sea destination was to thoroughly assess a pristine lagoon at the heart of the project site, using marine spatial planning. We drew up a list of actions to help ease pressure on the lagoon’s environment, from cleaning beaches to rebuilding fish stocks. A peer-reviewed scientific journal in Switzerland even published our study.

To reduce our carbon footprint, we’re installing the world’s largest microgrid supplied exclusively by renewable energy. Our solar farms have surpassed 85% completion, and we’re building the world’s biggest battery storage facility. Our water desalination plants and our other utilities and infrastructure, as well as our land vehicles and boats, will be powered entirely by electricity generated from renewable energy.

What are your development plans for 2024?

We are already welcoming guests at our Six Senses Southern Dunes, and the St. Regis and Nujuma Ritz-Carlton Reserve resorts, located on a collection of islands known as Ummahat. A total of 13 more hotels will open in 2024 to complete our first phase at the destination. We plan to raise that number to 50 hotels once the project is completed. 

At Amaala, we are developing eight hotels in the first phase of the Triple Bay development and we have welcomed our first guests this year.  

What is special about the Sheybarah Island resort villas?

The first of our orb-shaped over-water villas arrived at Sheybarah Island in early January 2023. They were manufactured by Grankraft in the United Arab Emirates and shipped to us by sea. 

These amazing villas are clad in stainless steel and will perch above the crystal waters off Sheybarah Island, about 30 minutes by boat from the mainland. They’re a great example of the efforts we make to minimise our impact on the environment. 

By having the villas manufactured off-site and shipped to us ready-made, we need only to install them, thus avoiding any potential disturbance to delicate wildlife habitats by having to construct them on-site.   

Our destinations are relatively remote, and we can’t produce everything we need by ourselves on-site. Pre-fabrication saves us time and minimises the footprint on the ground, while ensuring that we maintain our exacting standards for quality.

Grankraft, based in the UAE emirate of Sharjah, is producing all 73 of our over-water and beach villas for Sheybarah Island. The villas themselves were designed by Killa Design, one of the Middle East’s top architectural firms. Mammoet is our transport and installation partner, and P&O Logistics is supplying the deck carrier vessels.

How many partners have helped with the entire Red Sea project? 

Our ambition cannot be achieved by us alone, and we have a growing number of partners who bring not only the right expertise, but also the passion and commitment to innovation needed to support our mission to change the way tourism development is delivered. Between The Red Sea and Amaala projects, we have already awarded more than 1,300 contracts worth in excess of SAR 25 bn ($6.6bn).  

How important are those partnerships for Red Sea Global’s success? 

Partnerships are vital for innovation. We’ve worked closely with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in many ventures from the outset, and these collaborations have contributed greatly to our science-led approach to development. 

Partnerships with the private sector are just as important. For example, we formed our first joint-venture last year with Almutlaq Real Estate Investment Co.; together, we’ll develop our Jumeirah The Red Sea, a 159-key resort on Shura Island. The joint venture demonstrates the private sector’s confidence in The Red Sea destination’s future success.

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