Cruise Saudi A bridge to Arabia

Cruise Saudi is opening a new gateway for travellers looking to explore Saudi Arabia, explains CEO Lars Clasen

Cruise Saudi is introducing a new way to explore Saudi’s diverse landscapes, offering avid travellers and tourists a chance to learn about the country’s rich history and diverse culture. Through the development of a cruise industry, Cruise Saudi is establishing a new pillar to the country’s rapidly growing tourism industry, enabling visitors to explore the wonders of Saudi by sea.

With around 250 million people in Europe, Asia and Africa within a three-hour flight from the Red Sea or Arabian Gulf, Cruise Saudi is well placed to develop the area into a thriving regional hub for cruising for both international and local guests.

With the ambition of building a thriving sustainable cruise industry, Cruise Saudi has started its journey of bringing together local and global partners to develop an industry that is fully integrated, world-class and sustainable.

The company is aligned with Vision 2030 and national tourism goals for Saudi’s rapidly expanding tourism industry.

With an operational strategy founded on sustainability and environmental consciousness, Cruise Saudi is opening up new opportunities for tourism, business, entrepreneurship, and culture along the country’s pristine coastline.

The entity is focused on deepening and expanding its relationships within the cruise industry and welcoming more partners to Saudi shores, as Cruise Saudi CEO Lars Clasen explains here.

Q: What is Cruise Saudi’s mandate?

Cruise Saudi was launched in January 2021 during the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh with the goal of developing a fully integrated cruise industry in Saudi. Our aim is to work with partners to develop all aspects of a brand-new industry including attracting international cruise lines, port development at key Saudi destinations, destination experience coordination, marketing, and developing local talent. We seek to establish cruising as a new economic pillar, another growth engine, and an experiential dimension to the country’s flourishing tourism industry in line with Vision 2030 – the Saudi leadership’s strategic framework to transform and diversify the economy by developing several new sectors.

Our ultimate goal is to establish the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf and Saudi Arabia as a cruising hub, echoing the history of the region as a maritime hub, with Cruise Saudi as the driving force behind developing a world-class sustainable cruise offering.

Q: What have been Cruise Saudi’s achievements to date?

Before the summer of 2020, no cruise ship had ever homeported in Saudi, and we had a handful of transit calls over the last 30 years.

Since then, we have successfully operated a summer and a winter cruise season and we plan to significantly sustain and grow this in the future. The recent end of the winter season brings the total cruise guests welcomed to Saudi to around

50,000 in 2021-2022, including 30% international guests from more than 80 countries around the world.

We have worked with our local partners and the Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI) to convert existing commercial ports and dedicated berths and facilities to serve the largest cruise lines and their guests.

We have established strategic agreements with international cruise lines who have brought their ships to sail in Saudi waters, as well as with local partners around the country to develop destination experiences for cruise passengers visiting Saudi by sea. We are also committed to providing training opportunities for Saudi youth to equip them with the necessary skills to operate a truly world class cruise industry in Saudi.

As a newcomer to the cruise industry, we have been very warmly welcomed by other members, and we are keen to develop more ties to the global cruise industry by representing Saudi and the region at major industry events, conferences, and tradeshows such as the Arabian Travel Market and others. We have also become proud members of three prestigious industry bodies – the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), MedCruise and the Cruise Line International Association.

Our achievements thus far have been recognised by the global cruise and tourism industry having been listed as a finalist for Destination of the Year at the 2021, Seatrade Cruise Global Awards, finalist for Launch of the Year and Best B2B PR Campaign at the PRCA MENA Awards. We were honoured to win Best New Business Model at the 2021 Tourism Innovation Summit Awards and Best Business to Business Campaign: Launching Cruise Saudi at the 2021 MEPRA (Middle East Public Relations Association) Awards.

Q. How large is Saudi Arabia’s cruise market?

There are more than 100 ships that sail through the Red Sea area annually, and prior to the establishment of Cruise Saudi, they did not have the opportunity to stop to discover Saudi. This demonstrates to us that there is significant potential for cruising in Saudi, and this is what we want to harness as we continue to build the industry in the country.

We are still in the early stages of establishing the industry

IN NUMBERS

50,000

Cruise guests 2021-2022

30% International cruise guests from 80+countries

100+ Ships sail through the Red Sea area annually

6 Cruise ports planned for KSA

1.3mn

Cruise visitor target for 2035

$6bn

Cruise contribution by 2035

50,000

Direct and indirect jobs to be created by cruise by 2035

Hegra is one of three UNESCO World Heritage Sites cruise passengers can explore but have plans to continue to expand in the coming months and years. In the summer of 2020, prior to our official launch, and in the middle of the pandemic, we ran a trial season to test the waters of launching a cruise industry in Saudi.

When there were very few other cruise ships sailing, we brought Silver Spirit to Saudi for the first time. Our trial season was a success, not only in terms of highlighting to us the viability of the industry in Saudi, but also demonstrating our ability to safely conduct cruise operations during the pandemic. Since then, we have welcomed several ships from major international cruise lines who have included ports in Saudi as a call on their itineraries. We believe that with the right partners, up to a million passengers will cruise the Red Sea annually over the next couple of decades.

Q: What have been Cruise Saudi’s recent wins in terms of attracting more cruise business to the Gulf?

Agreements with major international cruise lines have been vital to our success and our aim is to continue to open up the Saudi waters in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf to encourage more ships to include destinations in Saudi on their itineraries.

We have a five-year commercial agreement in place with MSC – the third largest cruise line in the world – to bring its ships to sail in Saudi waters and have also welcomed ships from other cruise lines since launching. Cruise Saudi and Aman Group recently announced Project Sama – a joint venture to build a first-ofits-kind luxury yacht to sail Saudi and worldwide waters by 2025. This will bring the world’s most luxurious cruise yacht to the Red Sea waters.

Cruising is a relatively new industry in Saudi and of course, the pandemic has affected tourists globally. But given the success of our last two seasons and the effective measures we took to combat COVID-19, we expect an increase in both local and international tourists as well as cruise lines for our upcoming seasons.

We are also in talks with more international cruise lines to add Saudi ports to their cruise expeditions and will continue to open up the Saudi shores to the whole industry.

Q: What new infrastructure is planned to facilitate the growth of Saudi Arabia’s cruise industry?

The development of ports and destinations across the country is integral to the growth of the newly formed cruise industry and will enable more cruise lines as well as cruise passengers to come to Saudi. We are working with The Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI) to develop the infrastructure required to facilitate cruising at existing ports with a strong emphasis on sustainability.

In addition to the cruise passenger terminal constructed at Jeddah Islamic Port, both Yanbu (the second largest city after Jeddah on Saudi’s Red Sea coast) and Dammam in the Eastern Province, have been equipped with infrastructure needed to welcome cruise ships to their ports. Our aim is to develop up to six ports around the country to enable cruise passengers to explore all over.

Q. What impact will Saudi’s new mega tourism destinations have on the cruise sector?

Saudi is currently undergoing a period of transformation, developing several sectors including tourism in line with Vision 2030 – the Saudi leadership’s plan to diversify the economy. This includes the development of new destinations such as the Red Sea Development Project and AMAALA, the Royal Commission for AlUla and NEOM. We want to connect Saudi through cruise, opening a new gateway between destinations around the country, and offering a new way to experience all that it has to explore. We are now able to include three of Saudi’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites on cruise itineraries for the first time – these are Hegra, AlUla, Jeddah Old Town, and AlAhsa Oasis.

Q: What unique land experiences will woo cruise passengers?

Saudi is a new and exciting tourism destination. Over the centuries, Saudi has played an important role in history as an ancient trade centre and as the birthplace of Islam.

The country is blessed with many different assets, a rich historical heritage, diverse culture, and unspoiled natural beauty, from vast deserts to the pristine waters of the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf.

Saudi has rapidly been expanding its tourism presence and offering, with six World Heritage sites recognised by UNESCO since 2018 and many international events hosted in cities around the country including the Formula One Grand Prix in Jeddah, MDL Beast’s Soundstorm and the Red Sea International Film Festival.

Jeddah’s port – where two ships have been homeporting during the 2021/2022 winter and summer Seasons – has long served as a gateway to welcome visitors to Saudi Strategically located along ancient trading routes, Jeddah has an important maritime history as an international hub for merchant travellers transporting goods from around the world. As the commercial centre of Saudi, Jeddah is a cultural crossroads and a vibrant hub combining heritage and modernity.

Yanbu is another unique destination with a history dating back at least 2,500 years, when it was a staging point on the spice and incense route from Yemen to Egypt and the Mediterranean region. Visitors can explore the unique Hijazi architecture style of Yanbu old town that is found along the Arabian coast of the Red Sea, similar to that of Jeddah’s AlBalad district.

Q: What’s the long-term plan for Saudi Arabia’s cruise sector?

Our role is to bring together partners – local and international – to develop a fully coordinated cruise industry in Saudi, from the cruise lines to the destination experience coordination to the airlift with SAUDIA, our national air carrier. We aim to connect all the dots and build a robust industry benefitting all partners. In a short amount of time, we developed the required infrastructure for the cruise industry, established partnerships with international cruise lines, and welcomed around 50,000 guests to date. Our long-term aim is to now amplify all of these aspects and develop Saudi into a world-class cruise destination.

Q: What is Cruise Saudi’s economic and social contribution to KSA?

We want to offer a high-quality experience to all cruise guests, while developing a strong local workforce and providing economic and training opportunities within Saudi.

With an operational strategy founded on sustainability and environmental consciousness, the company is opening new opportunities for tourism, business, entrepreneurship and culture along the country’s pristine coastline.

This entirely new industry will play a key role in the development of tourism, in line with Vision 2030, presenting new opportunities to citizens.

With the aim to bring 1.3 million visitors to Saudi via cruise by 2035, Cruise Saudi will contribute to Vision 2030 goals, which include seeing 10% of GDP coming from tourism and attracting 100 million visits. By 2035, the Saudi cruise industry aims to deliver socioeconomic benefits of US$6 billion.

Other benefits of cruise tourism include raising the profile of Saudi in general and as a cruise destination, promoting the preservation of natural and historical sites and landmarks as well as developing skills, job opportunities, and infrastructure at every touch point.

Through our ongoing and upcoming training programmes, we aim to equip the future workforce with the required skills and practical experience to operate the industry, in line with our plan to create 50,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2035.

We are collaborating with King Abdulaziz University and Prince Mugrin University to scout and develop young cruise industry professionals to be a part of our journey.

We are also working with the Ministry of Tourism and the Saudi Tourist Guide Association to create the first generation of cruise-specific tour guides; as well as the Culinary Arts Commission to establish a programme that integrates Saudi cuisine into the cruise guest experience through training Saudi chefs aboard the cruise ships, and training tour guides specialized in culinary arts.

Cruise Saudi offers a memorable, unique and enriched experience to not just international guests but also local tourists to discover and explore the untapped beauty and hidden gems of Saudi.