Saudi Arabia’s ultra-luxury Amaala tourism project may raise up to 10 billion riyals ($2.7 billion) in 2022, the CEO of the company, John Pagano said in an interview on the sidelines of Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.
AMAALA will be a unique luxury resort destination, organizers say.
Amaala is a project that aims to attract the world’s elite to vacation on the pristine shores of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. Designs of the development show an ultra-modern destination that will cater to some of the world’s wealthiest and offer a totally unique experience. Amaala is a 3,800 square kilometer project that aims to create an all-new concept of “wellness, healthy living and meditation.” The new planned area is located “alongside” the also-recently announced and planned city of NEOM and the Red Sea Project “as part of the giga-projects investment portfolio, helping to establish a unique tourism ecosystem, supporting economic diversification and creating high-value job opportunities,” according to the Saudi Gazette.
According to Bloomberg, the numbers haven’t yet been finalized, “with the amount of debt likely to be in the ‘range’ of 5-10 billion, he said. The company has awarded more than 3 billion riyals in contracts” already, that report said.
The comments come just weeks after the Kingdom’s Red Sea Development Co., which is also headed by Pagano, closed a “green” loan for 14.12 billion-riyals ($3.77 billion), financed entirely by four Saudi banks. That loan will be used to build 16 new hotels, Pagano said in April. Those hotels form part of a new high-end tourism development across islands, deserts and mountains near the country’s west coast, powered by renewable energy, and built with sustainability as a guiding principle.
Bloomberg reports that Pagano also said that capacity at the Red Sea International Airport will stand at 300,000 passengers at the end of the first phase, and added that “driving direct flights is going to be challenging but we’re going to look at a hub and spoke arrangement.” That international airport will employ an impressive design “inspired by the optical illusion of a desert mirage,” SUSTG reported. The terminal and control tower design was conceptualized by UK-based architectural and design firm Foster + Partners, while the airport master plan was designed by Egis, an international consultancy and engineering group. It will incorporate unique design practices, drawing inspiration from its location, planners said.
