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The Saudi Arabia state-backed developer Red Sea Global (RSG) has announced it will operate its own luxury hotel brand, Shebara.
The first Shebara property is set to open in summer 2024 and is the first resort to be owned and operated by RSG at its Red Sea destination tourism giga-project. Located on Saudi Arabia’s Sheybarah Island, the resort will be a 73-key property including overwater and beach villas designed like steel orbs. Visitors will be able to arrive at the property either by a 45-minute boat ride from the mainland or 20 minutes by seaplane.
The property will be solar-powered, with its own dedicated solar farm. In total, RSG has constructed five solar farms to power the first phase of the tourism destination, with more than 760,000 PV panels installed.
The Shebara announcement comes close on the heels of the Thuwal Private Retreat news, which is RSG’s island destination concept.
Shebara is the latest hospitality brand to operate at the Red Sea destination, which already includes a St. Regis and a Ritz Carlton Reserve, as well as a Six Senses resort, which will receive guests later this month.
Upon full completion in 2030, the destination will comprise 50 resorts, with close to 8,000 hotel rooms and more than 1,000 residential properties across 22 islands and six inland sites.
RSG, which is wholly owned by Saudi’s state-backed Public Investment Fund (PIF), is also spearheading the Amaala tourism giga-project as a part of the country’s plan to drive up tourism numbers in line with its Vision 2030 agenda. The kingdom is targeting 150 million visitors by 2030.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Daniel Luiz)
