The Four Seasons Resort and Residences Red Sea will welcome its first guests within days, marking the first joint venture-developed resort to enter Red Sea Global‘s portfolio, RSG chief executive John Pagano said on May 18.
The resort, on Shura Island at the centre of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea destination, was developed in partnership with Kingdom Holding Company, the investment firm controlled by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
Pagano said the opening demonstrated the strength of RSG’s investment proposition and the role the developer could play in stimulating wider private sector participation in the Saudi tourism industry.
The property features 149 hotel rooms and 31 resort residences, alongside dining, family experiences and water sports.
Pagano said the resort would open in time for one of the busiest travel periods in the destination’s calendar, welcoming guests from across Saudi Arabia and abroad.
The Red Sea is one of the flagship giga-projects under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic diversification programme, which aims to reduce the kingdom’s reliance on oil revenues by building out a tourism sector largely absent until recent years. Red Sea Global, wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund, is developing the destination along the kingdom’s western coastline.
Sarmad Zok, chief executive of Kingdom Hotel Investments, a subsidiary of KHC, said the investment reflected a commitment to deploying long-term capital into hospitality and tourism assets in line with Saudi Vision 2030.
“Alongside Red Sea Global, this landmark development demonstrates the strength of the destination proposition and the growing international appeal of Saudi Arabia’s luxury tourism market,” Zok said.
The destination has opened a series of resorts in phases since its first hotels began receiving guests, with operators including Six Senses, St Regis and Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, already in the market. The addition of the Four Seasons property extends the destination’s branded hospitality line-up as RSG works towards its planned full build-out.
Why it matters for the trade
The joint venture structure is the story here for the trade. Most Red Sea openings to date have been developed directly by the PIF-owned RSG, so a resort co-developed with Kingdom Holding signals the destination is now drawing third-party capital. For operators and agents, a wider branded portfolio on a single destination strengthens the case for selling the Red Sea as a multi-property luxury circuit rather than a single-resort trip.
We reached out to Red Sea Global for further comments and, hopefully, a future interview with John Pagano. Stay tuned for more information.