Leisure & Hospitality New Red Sea private island to propel Saudi cruise sector By Pramod Kumar October 10, 2024, 7:58 AM Cruise Saudi Cruise Saudi CEO Lars Clasen and Adnan Alshareef, CEO and president, PC Marine Services sign the private island development contract Saudi Arabia is developing a private island in the Red Sea to boost its cruise tourism sector. Cruise Saudi, a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund, has awarded a contract to Jeddah-based PC Marine Services to carry out the project. The island will be exclusive to cruise passengers and have facilities such as a welcome centre, dining area and beach club with private villas and sunbeds to accommodate up to 2,000 guests. PC Marine Services has previously worked on projects such as the Obhur Waterfront Jeddah development and cruise berth improvements in Jeddah, Dammam and Yanbu. The island will serve as a day-trip destination and is anticipated to receive its first visitors in December. In May, the Saudi Red Sea Authority granted the licence to Cruise Saudi, which opened bookings for its Aroya Cruises ship. Since it began in 2021, the PIF-owned company has welcomed 370,000 passengers at the three ports with deep enough waters to receive luxury liners. Red Sea Global to open 19 luxury hotels in 2025 Work to resume on world’s tallest tower in Saudi Arabia Infrastructure needed to support Egypt’s tourism ambitions The government is launching a new airline and airport to push individual tourist journeys to 150 million per year. Cruise Saudi expects to contribute $200 million in revenues to the local economy, as it aims to attract 1.3 million passengers by 2035. In a video interview with AGBI at the annual Arabian Travel Market in May 2023, Cruise Saudi’s then chief asset development and port operations officer, Miguel Reyna, said: “On average, when a ship comes to the port, 35 percent of the guests go on tours. Our hope is that 70 to 80 percent of the passengers will go.”
