The Business of Middle East Superyachting

Recent Developments by the Saudi Red Sea Authority to Establish the Red Sea as a Superyacht Destination

Since the formation of the Saudi Red Sea Authority in 2021, the government entity has worked towards establishing the Red Sea as a thriving luxury tourism destination, particularly for the tourism industry, and this past month has been no expectation. 

At the end of September, SRSA has announced it’s partnership with with The International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA). The two parties formed a strategic alliance, where ICOMIA will help the Kingdom to establish connections with the global recreation boating industry, providing technical insight, and offering access to specialist training and development.

Moreover, the SRSA was a catalyst in setting tourist goals for Saudi Arabia. A recently published report “Investing in Coastal Tourism” revealed the Kingdom’s plans to attract 19 million visitors and create over 200,000 jobs by 2030, emphasizing the role marine tourism plays in this respect as the plans also plan on contributing approximately SAR85 billion (US$22.64 billion) to GDP by 2030

Finally, marina and cruise terminal codes were put into place. SRSA introduced four industry-specific codes to improve the coastal tourism infrastructure: the Marina Planning and Design Code, the Cruise Terminal Planning and Design Code, the Marina Operations Code, and the Cruise Terminal Operations Code.

The Saudi Red Sea Authority played a key role in building and regulating the coastal tourism sector in Saudi Arabia. Over the past three years, SRSA has enhanced integration between the relevant parties through issuing licenses and permits, developing requisite strategies and policies, adding safeguards to preserve the marine environment, and determining the requirements for marine infrastructure.