Saudi Arabia plans luxury beach resorts on Red Sea

[Gabbar Singh]

Saudi Arabia to turn 50 Red Sea islands into luxury tourism resorts 'not subject to conservative kingdom’s rules'
Kingdom hopes new Red Sea holiday zone with a year-round average temperature of 30c will draw up to one million tourists a year as part of drive to end reliance on oil revenue

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced it plans to turn a huge part of its pristine Red Sea coastline into a semi-autonomous luxury beach resort.

The 50 islands and 180km (110 miles) stretch of coastline - amounting to an area the size of Belgium - will be developed to home luxury hotels and other necessary infrastructure which will exist under laws “on par with international standards” in an effort to draw tourists to the country, the government said Tuesday.

The plans are part of“Vision 2030”, Saudi Arabia’s long-term blueprint for weaning itself off its reliance on oil revenue. It involves investments to the tune of $20m (£15.6m) – including a shot in the arm for the kingdom’s nascent tourism industry.

While 18 million people visited Saudi Arabia from abroad in 2016, almost all foreigners came on pilgrimage to Mecca, rather than to spend time and money soaking up the country’s other sights.

Although the Kingdom is home to many archaeological sites, pristine beaches and excellent diving, it is not a holiday destination like Egypt’s Red Sea resorts or the city of Petra in Jordan. It currently does not offer tourist visas, making visiting difficult.

Conservative social rules, a lack of alcohol and restrictive dress codes coupled with blazing desert heat aren’t the usual ingredients Western holidaymakers look for.

Forms of recreation such as theatre and cinemas are banned, and despite tentative efforts at reform, Saudi Arabia is still widely criticised for its institutionalised discrimination against women.

It is not clear whether western women - or local women - will be allowed to don bikinis or other clothing which does not fit the kingdom's strict dress codes while visiting the resorts, or travel without the presence of a male guardian.

The Kingdom’s authorities say the new tourist zone will not necessarily be subject to the laws in place in the rest of the country, although there are no details on how the semi-autonomous area will function yet.

The government is working on introducing tourist visas to make it easier for foreigners to visit. It is hoped one million people a year - a combined domestic and international total - will stay at the new Red Sea destinations by 2035.

Construction at the Red Sea site will begin in autumn 2019 and be completed by the end of 2022, state news agency SPA said. The Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund will provide the initial funding before international bodies are invited to invest.

Up to 35,000 jobs will be created by the project, which is eventually projected to generate 15 billion riyals (£3bn) a year.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...onservative-kingdom-rules-egypt-a7873301.html

 

[Syed1]

Glad that the Saudis have fixed the crippling social issues that beset them and have provided equal rights to women and can now focus on the more frivolous issues such as luxury beach resorts where their own women won't be allowed unless wearing head to toe burqa.

 

[ShadabFakhar]

Glad that the Saudis have fixed the crippling social issues that beset them and have provided equal rights to women and can now focus on the more frivolous issues such as luxury beach resorts where their own women won't be allowed unless wearing head to toe burqa.

Lol. The culmination of the Saudi Revolution - Beach Resorts!

It's an immunity of sorts, 'Tourist Immunity'

 

[sshakir411]

apparently women will be allowed to wear bikinis and alcohol will be served.

 

[KingKhanWC]

apparently women will be allowed to wear bikinis and alcohol will be served.

The Kings son Mohammed bin Salman has risen to power in dramatic style since his farther was made King. This is a change in family rule. He is making a lot of changes to the nation and this is his idea I feel. Saudi are going the UAE route now.

 

[ShadabFakhar]

apparently women will be allowed to wear bikinis and alcohol will be served.

So crimes you get flogged for in one area will be okay a few miles down the road. It's an improvement on sponsoring terrorism, they're now sponsoring comedy too.

 

[sshakir411]

The Kings son Mohammed bin Salman has risen to power in dramatic style since his farther was made King. This is a change in family rule. He is making a lot of changes to the nation and this is his idea I feel. Saudi are going the UAE route now.

yep, Saudi is the real gorilla in the Middle-East in terms of economic power. It's about time they bring in the social reforms and I believe this move (of promoting Mohammad Bin Salman) was made to accelerate the process. Half of Saudi population is under the age of 25 and so far social reform has been very slow in the country.

 

[sshakir411]

So crimes you get flogged for in one area will be okay a few miles down the road. It's an improvement on sponsoring terrorism, they're now sponsoring comedy too.

Saudi Arabia is going to go through some major changes in the next 5 years..

 

[Rellu_Katta]

would love to visti SA but its not for these beaches... would love to travel the main land and look for the actual historical places

 

[Sir-fraz]

For the first time, Saudi Arabia is going to open up its doors to international tourists with a new visa regime for 49 countries.

Until now, Saudi visas were only really granted to expatriate workers, people visiting on business, and pilgrims visiting either or both of the two holy cities Mecca and Medina.

The kingdom has also pledged to relax its strict dress codes for female visitors, and to allow women to travel to the country unaccompanied.

This is all part of the kingdom's push for economic reform, in order to decrease its dependence on oil - but it is also an attempt to rebrand itself amid criticism of its human rights record, including last year's murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and crackdowns on women's rights activists.

King Fahd's Fountain in Jeddah is said to be the tallest fountain in the world.

Conservative estimates say the fountain, which was donated to the city by the late King Fahd, can shoot saltwater up to 853 ft (260 metres) high - although some estimates put this closer to 1,000 ft.

At night, it is lit up by more than 500 spotlights.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49850056

 

[Lonewarrior]

good news for israel, no need to make the new ones in future.

 

[MenInG]

Despite international tourism facing its worst crisis since records began, Saudi Arabia has agreed with Europe’s biggest hotel group Accor for the group to expand and operate a resort at the $20 billion Al-Ula tourism project in the kingdom’s northwestern region, the Royal Commission for the project said on Sunday.

Al-Ula, the site of an ancient civilisation in a remote northwestern corner of the country, is part of plans by the world’s top crude exporter to diversify its economy away from oil and open up after decades of seclusion, Reuters reports.

The agreement will see Accor operate an expanded Ashar Resort under the Banyan Tree brand, with 47 new units bringing the resort’s total capacity to 82 high-end villas, along with a spa and several gourmet restaurants, a commission statement said.

The project is located in the Ashar valley, 15 km (9 miles) from the Kingdom’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hegra.

In April, Saudi Arabia’s tourism minister said the sector could see a 35-45% decline this year due to measures taken by the government to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, relatively closed off for decades, has in recent years relaxed strict social codes such as the segregation of men and women in public and the requirement that women wear all-covering black robes, or abayas.

Al-Ula’s development is part of a push to preserve pre-Islamic heritage sites in order to attract non-Muslim tourists and strengthen national identity.

It plans an official opening to the world as a year-round destination in October 2020.

The kingdom closed its borders to foreign “umrah” pilgrims and to tourists from at least 25 countries in late February.

In March, it barred all travel in and out of the country.

Saudi Arabia has reported 287,262 cases of Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, and 3,130 deaths so far.

 

[sweep_shot]

Interesting project.

Saudis invest so much money in all sorts of things. How about poor Muslims worldwide? How much do they contribute?

 

[DeadlyVenom]

They want to preserve pre islamic heritage sites to cash in on tourisms but have continuously stamped on the hearts of muslims who want actual Islamic heritage preserved.