Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea tourism project looks into hydrogen-fuelled seaplanes
The Red Sea Development Company, developer of the mega-tourism project on Saudi Arabia’s west coast, is exploring more sustainable ways for visitors to fly into the ultra-luxury destination.
This includes using hydrogen-fuelled seaplanes to access its islands as part of conservation efforts, its chief executive said.
The company is also looking into more immediately available options for greener travel through carbon sequestration and use of sustainable aviation fuels on flights serving its international airport.
These will run entirely on renewable energy, John Pagano said at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.
Together, these measures are expected to save 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be emitted each year, doubling to 1 million tonnes of carbon reductions when factoring in the adjacent mega-tourism project Amaala, said Mr Pagano, who is chief executive of both government-backed companies.
“We’re not just a travel destination, but an incubator of
ideas, a centre of learning,” he said.
The large-scale projects being developed are part of the kingdom’s efforts to diversify and cut its dependence on oil revenue. Development of non-oil sectors such as tourism are key planks of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic transformation agenda.
As part of its regenerative tourism push, TRSDC and Amaala are aiming for a 30 per cent net conservation benefit over the next two decades across the entire area of the projects, Mr Pagano said.
“What that means is that those beautiful mangroves and coral reefs will be more
plentiful in years to come, enabling biodiversity to flourish.”
The company is working with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology to grow coral in a lab to be put back into the sea and is working on a tagging programme to boost the population of the endangered hawksbill turtle.
“Sustainability is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s an absolute necessity,” Mr Pagano told the forum. In addition to its pledge to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2060, Saudi Arabia also plans to more than double its target of reducing annual carbon emissions to 278 million tonnes by 2030.