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Forbes
Forbes
Business
Sylvia Klimaki, Contributor

Could Saudi Arabia Really Be Your Next Christmas Holiday Destination?

Even without this year’s Covid restrictions, it would be hard to imagine travelling to Saudi Arabia for a luxury vacation, let alone to one at a marine conservation eco-resort. With most holiday plans on hold this Christmas, we are left to dream of where we will travel to once this stay-at-home madness is over. Could Saudi Arabia really be an option?

As we debate whether to see our families this Christmas, in a country more famed for its deserts, a super-ambitious project is underway. The Red Sea Project is one of the worlds most ambitious luxury tourism developments. The project spans 28,000 km2 along Saudi Arabia’s western coastline – equating to roughly the size of Belgium – and includes an archipelago of more than 90 islands, desert dunes, mountain canyons, dormant volcanoes and ancient heritage sites. The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) the developers behind The Red Sea Project, claim this will be the world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism project, combining luxury experiences with environmental regeneration. 

It will not be ready for a couple of years though – hopefully by which point the pandemic will be but a distant memory. The project aims to welcome its first guests by the end of 2022, with ultimate completion of the project being in 2030, when the area will contain 50 hotels, offering up to 8,000 hotel rooms, and around 1,300 residential properties across 22 islands. Visitor numbers will be capped based on the environmental carrying capacity of the destination, but the aim is to welcome around 1 million visitors a year.

Marine Conservation In Focus 

The project’s master plan has been informed by an extensive program of marine spatial planning, which has helped identify priority conservation areas and the end product will see 75% of the islands within The Red Sea Project area untouched, with nine islands designated as special conservation zones. 

On the advisory board of The Red Sea Project sits Philippe Cousteau Jr, grandson of the great conservationist Jacques Cousteau, and a multi Emmy-nominated TV host. “It sits alongside one of the last truly healthy coral reef ecosystems in the world. When I first set foot in that water, I was astonished about how thriving the reefs were,” says Cousteau, “These coral reefs are some of the last thriving examples on the planet and the opportunity to learn about what makes them so resilient may be essential for supporting efforts to protect other reefs that are under threat around the globe,” he adds. For Cousteau, protecting these reefs and learning about “what makes them resilient in the face of warming oceans is critical to the future of the planet.” Over the next 20 years, scientists estimate about 70 to 90% of all coral reefs will disappear, primarily as a result of warming ocean waters, increasing ocean acidity, and rising pollution. Through partnering with cutting edge scientists, The Red Sea Project is developing new technologies to actively aid the recovery of coral colonies, examples of these include practices such as 3D coral printing which acts as a structure for living coral to grow on, and farming techniques which help restore and enhance the coral reefs. Other efforts include a turtle-tagging program to help track and trace sea turtles inhabiting the region and the creation of the world’s largest dark sky reserve that will ensure the security of the local nocturnal environment.

Setting A Great Precedent

To protect the local marine ecosystem, TRSDC is planning to establish the Middle East’s largest (5,373 km2) No-take Marine Protected area. This area will be designated and managed to protect marine ecosystems, helping to increase fish biomass and the number of large fish in the project’s waters. The vast majority of existing marine parks and reserves are either being poorly managed or not looked after at all and with as little as approximately 4% of the world’s oceans being protected, this large marine protected area in the Red Sea will set a great precedent for other regions. 

“I have had the privilege of visiting the site several times now and have witnessed how The Red Sea Project is home to some of the world’s most diverse coral ecosystems, with several fish species reliant on them for their own survival,” says Cousteau.  

The project has a number of other ambitious targets including:

- committing to send zero waste to landfill;

- implementing a full ban on single-use plastics once the destination is operational;

- powering the destination’s utilities and infrastructure solely with 100% renewable energy

To deliver on these targets, TRSDC is building the world’s largest battery storage facility which will allow the project to function entirely off-grid (representing a saving in CO2 emissions to the atmosphere of around 470,000 tonnes per year).

Rethinking Tourism

“As global tourism continues to grow, accounting for 10% of global GDP, it’s important that future tourism developments consider a regenerative approach to ensure continued biodiversity,” Cousteau says. As more and more governments jump on the sustainable tourism bandwagon it is key to consider who is walking the talk and who is simply talking. “Palau, an island country that has also invested extensively in marine protections – with most of its maritime territory (around 80%) being designated as a marine preserve, has received an extraordinary amount of global support and established itself as a leader on the world stage,” Cousteau explains.

Other countries, like the Seychelles, Fiji, and the Marshall Islands are working to follow suit. “But authenticity is key as Australia is finding out. One of its greatest assets, the Great Barrier Reef (“GBR”), is a major selling point for Australian tourism, bringing in an estimated $6 billion to the economy. Unfortunately, the coral of the GBR is rapidly dying off, and as a result, income from declining tourism has reduced by around $1 billion (pre-Covid), a warning to other countries that take their natural assets for granted” Cousteau says.  Let’s hope The Red Sea Project delivers on its fantastic conservation targets and that the monetary returns and environmental benefits of such large scale eco-tourism projects inspire other countries to follow suit.

So it’s Christmas on the Red Sea in 2022, Covid permitted, just make sure you only take biodegradable wrapping paper with you.

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