Red Sea Global to open 50 Saudi Arabian resorts by 2030

Real estate developer Red Sea Global has confirmed its Red Sea destination in Saudi Arabia will incorporate 50 resorts by the end of the decade.

By 2030, the development is set to contain 8,000 hotel keys, 1,000 residences, luxury marinas, golf resorts, leisure facilities and a marine life institute.

The first phase of opening will see three properties debut in the destination’s Shura Island region before the end of the year – InterContinental The Red Sea Resort, SLS The Red Sea and The Red Sea Edition – followed by eight further openings in 2026. 

The Red Sea will ultimately house outposts of brands including Six Senses, St Regis Hotels & Resorts, Ritz-Carlton Reserve and more.

Sister development Amaala is set to open “in the coming months”, featuring an initial six resorts including properties from Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts and Six Senses, along with a yacht club and marina village.

Reema Al-Mokhtar, Red Sea Global’s senior director of tourism communications and industry partnerships, told Aspire at World Travel Market in London last month that UK travellers are “a big priority” for the destination, saying: “We know that Saudi Arabia is a fairly new country when it comes to tourism from Europe, but Italy is actually one of our best markets now, and we’re seeing an increase in visitation from the UK.

“We have dedicated a PR team to get the message out about the destination, and we have a strong B2B plan starting with partnerships with agents, operators and concierges from the UK. 

“We are steadily expanding our presence in the UK market, including with webinars, toolkits, incentive programmes and roadshows for the trade.”

On November 12, Red Sea International Airport welcomed its first European flight arriving from Milan with Beond, with more routes soon to be announced.

Al-Mokhtar also explained that Red Sea Global is part of the national Saudi Green Initiative, helping to combat climate change and protect the environment. 

As part of this, sustainable measures are being implemented, including a ban on cruise ships and jet skis to protect the coral reefs, and an annual visitor cap of one million to Red Sea Saudi Arabia and 500,000 to Amaala by 2030 to reduce environmental impact.

Al-Mokhtar said: “Our focus is regenerative tourism – moving from being a responsible developer to being actually regenerative, leaving the land better than when we came to it.”