Riyadh - Mubasher: Saudi Arabia's The Red Sea Development Co plans to have 16 hotels ready by the end of 2023, two more than initially planned in the first phase, the project’s CEO, John Pagano, told Reuters.
The multi-billion-dollar project entails developing luxury resorts on 50 islands off the coral-fringed Red Sea coast, where tourists can go diving, and visit a nature reserve and heritage sites.
During the first phase, the project aims to attract 300,000 visitors annually, Pagano said, predicting demand to soar in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"There will be a lot of pent up demand to go and travel as soon as the restrictions are lifted, so I see a V-shape recovery certainly, in so far as tourism is concerned," Pagano said.
The flagship tourism project plans to finalise a 15-year loan from banks worth SAR 14 billion ($3.73 billion) by the end of 2020 to partly fund its SAR 30 billion capital spending by 2023, as it expects to end the year with around SAR 15 billion worth of committed contracts, Pagano revealed.
Remaining funding needed for the first phase will come from the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the project's owner.
The Gulf state wants tourism to contribute 10% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030, as part of a strategy to diversify the Arab world's largest economy away from oil.
Other major projects backed by the PIF include the $500 billion NEOM economic zone and the Qiddiya entertainment zone.
