The project has been designed by the Foster+Partners studio of the prestigious architect Norman Foster

Saudi Arabia launches resort on 22 unspoilt Red Sea islands

(Twitter: @SaudiProject) - Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday launched the Coral Bloom project, a major project on the Red Sea coast.

EFE

11 de febrero de 2021 (12:27 h.)

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Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced Thursday the launch of Coral Bloom, another mega tourism project in the Red Sea comprising 22 pristine islands with luxury hotels that will "merge" with the paradisiacal ecosystem of the area, according to the state news agency SPA.

The new tourism project is being developed mainly on the island of Shurayrah and has been designed by the Norman Foster-founded firm Foster+Partners and will be "the gateway to the Red Sea Project", Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) chief executive John Pagano told SPA.

"Coral Bloom's designs were inspired by incredible flora and fauna found only in Saudi Arabia," Pagano added.

The concept includes eleven hotels on the island, designed to charm travellers once restrictions imposed to control the coronavirus pandemic are lifted, according to SPA.

"Our vision for Shurayrah is inspired by the nature of the island, with the hotels designed to give the impression that they are bathing on the beaches, sitting among the dunes almost like driftwood," Foster+Partners studio director Gerard Evenden told SPA.

The project is being implemented by the Red Sea Development Company, chaired by the crown prince, a public limited company wholly owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.

The Red Sea Project, which includes Coral Bloom, is expected to host a total of some 50 luxury resorts offering up to 8,000 rooms and around 1,300 residential properties on 22 islands and six inland sites and will also include luxury ports, golf courses and leisure and entertainment facilities.

Scheduled to be completed by 2030, the project is being developed on more than 28,000 square kilometres of land and water along Saudi Arabia's west coast and includes a vast archipelago of more than 90 unspoiled islands.

Saudi Arabia is focusing its efforts on Bin Salman's own Vision 2030, a comprehensive development project launched by the Saudi government to diversify its almost entirely oil-dependent economy.