Saudi Arabia is Leading the Way for Sustainable Tourism

Each of the Emirates has a very strong tourism strategy. And they have created some specific entities and funds to promote investment in ecological glamping and sustainability.

The Abu Dhabi Investment Office is clearly pushing investors to join forces with the tourism authorities to invest in sustainable resorts. The same with Dubai and Ras al Khaimah. But the biggest investment in this field comes from Saudi Arabia, where, as part of their Vision 2030 project, they decided to diversify away from oil economy and tourism became a sector of utmost importance. This is a big shift from the past few decades, and the Kingdom started investing aggressively in so many massive projects all sharing a key component of sustainability.

“Saudi has created a tourism development fund, TDF, to support Saudi investors, and is financing tourism projects, provided they contribute to Vision 2030, and if they are sustainable then that’s a big plus. They also wanted to get away from the main markets and the main cities and try to support secondary cities and remote locations and remote populations by creating employment opportunities and attracting tourists,” says Nader.

“They have some amazing sites across the country, whether it’s heritage, whether it’s nature, mountains, deserts, or amazing beaches on the Red Sea. So, there are many opportunities to create some very high-end glamping projects there. And that Tourism Development Fund has been a very great supporter of the Saudi investors wanting to go down this route,” he adds.

“They’re really trying to be extremely sustainable on all fronts. Really, they’re not taking this lightly,” says Nader. “It’s not like just removing plastic straws or single-use plastic. It’s really about preserving water (which is scarce), building with a sense of place, respecting the land and heritage, and investing in renewable energy. They have so much sun all year round that it makes sense to use that resource. And they’re partnering with worldwide organisations and big companies to bring sustainable resources and solutions to the kingdom.”

Another aspect of the Vision 2030 project is about protection of not just the cultural heritage but the indigenous wildlife – some of which will need to be reintroduced.

“I think they’ve been doing a great job,” says Nader. “So far, everything that has been really happening in Saudi is at the very luxury level. The image of tourism and Saudi is based on luxury tourism, and this is how Dubai was also established several years ago. But now it’s slowly shifting to attracting a wider spectrum of tourists, to the Emirates. Because as you know, the country can’t rely only on luxury tourists to meet the government’s ambitious tourism objectives.”

I think there is a big trend towards going back to basics, going back to the roots, going back to nature, understanding the food that you eat and where it comes from. Families are keen to show the new generation and their kids that milk doesn’t come from the shelves of supermarkets.

Agritourism – the region is rich in date farms and farm to table tourism is also re-emerging in the region. “I think there is a big trend towards going back to basics going back to the roots, going back to nature understanding the food that you eat and where it comes from. Families are keen to show the new generation and their kids that milk doesn’t come from the shelves of supermarkets,” he concludes.

Chris is happy to be of any help to investors keen to come to the region to develop experiential eco-projects. He can be contacted via his Linkedin page https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiannader/

Thanks to Glampitect and Nick Purslow, whose original podcast with Chris provided much of the content of this article. You can listen to the podcast here: https://glampitect.co.uk/ glampitect-podcast-episode-14-glamping-in-middle-east/