The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) CEO John Pagano revealed that negotiations with local and regional investors in the flagship tourism project, dubbed The Red Sea Project, are ongoing.
Pagano, in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, noted that contracts worth $3.75 billion have been inked so far.
He pointed out that the Saudi mega plan will generate a whopping 70,000 job opportunities. During construction, it will contribute $27 billion to the Kingdom’s GDP. After being completed and when run at maximum capacity, the project will add to GDP around $6 billion annually.
Pagano explained that the Red Sea Project is one of the pioneering tourism projects in Saudi Arabia, and it serves as an enhancer for economic diversification. It is also an integral part of the Kingdom’s national vision for transformation, dubbed Vision 2030.
Tourism accounts for 10.4% of global GDP by providing 313 million jobs.
Despite Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector currently standing at a mere 3.4% of GDP, Pagano predicted that the coming years will witness an influx of substantial investment into the growing sector.
“Work remains on track to welcome the first guests by the end of 2022, when the international airport and the first four hotels will open. The remaining 12 hotels scheduled for completion in Phase One will open in 2023, delivering a total of 3,000 rooms across five islands and two inland resorts,” Pagano told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“Upon completion in 2030, the destination will include 50 hotels offering up to 8,000 hotel rooms and 1,300 residential properties across 22 islands and six inland sites,” he added.
Considerable progress has been made on The Red Sea Project, despite Covid-19 related disruptions in 2020.
“Contracts have been awarded so far at a value of SR10 billion ($3.75 billion),” Pagano clarified about the progress made in ongoing negotiations with local and regional investors.
“We have already started working on the destination’s airport, the roads that will connect the hotels and resorts to each other, the marine infrastructure, the workers' residential village with a capacity of 10,000 workers, in addition to the city of employees,” he noted on construction development.
