Saudi Arabia will develop a new luxury mountain resort as the giga project inches closer to welcoming its first guest in 2022.
The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), which is backed by the kingdom’s sovereign fund PIF, will develop the new project named as Desert Rock resort, designed by US-based Oppenheim Architecture.
The 48 villas and 12 hotel rooms will offer visitors views of the wadi vistas in the western region of the kingdom – with some of the rooms to be built into mountain rock. It will also include a spa, fitness centre, remote destination dining areas and a lagoon oasis.
Members of the local community will be hired to act as stewards of the land and provide educational tours for visitors, TRSDC said, adding that the resort has been designed to reduce energy consumption and regenerate native flora under the company’s commitment to regenerative tourism.
Water retention and distribution systems will be used throughout the site, with harvested rainwater used to irrigate the wadi.
Stone excavated from the mountains will be used for interior and exterior walls and floors, while ground stone and existing sand will be used for concrete aggregate.
The company said construction began in July 2021 and that The Red Sea Project is on track to welcome the first guests by the end of 2022, when the first hotels will open. The first phase includes 16 hotels and is expected to be completed by 2023.
Upon completion in 2030, the destination will comprise 50 resorts, offering up to 8,000 hotel rooms and more than 1,000 residential properties across 22 islands and six inland sites.
The Red Sea Project will also include luxury marinas, golf courses, entertainment, leisure facilities and an international airport.
The kingdom is planning to raise up to 10 billion riyals ($2.67 billion) next year for Amaala, one of its tourism projects on its Red Sea coast.
“We will come to the market probably sometime next year with a financing for Amaala specifically related to the first phase of the project,” Reuters quoted the CEO of TRSDC, John Pagano as saying.