Cruise Saudi is embarking on an ambitious expansion plan to develop 10 cruise destinations along the Red Sea coast, with three new ports currently under development, CEO Lars Clasen revealed in an exclusive interview at FII in Riyadh.
“We are trying to establish 10 destinations right now. We have three operational, four in development, and three further in the longer pipeline,” Clasen detailed.
“This is in order to attract international tourist companies coming here, but also we are addressing the local market with AROYA.”
Currently operational ports include Jeddah, Yanbu, and Dammam, which have already facilitated visits from hundreds of thousands of international tourists.
Among the new developments is AlWajh, which Clasen revealed will serve as a gateway to AlUla, plus a private island and beach location exclusively for cruise passengers.
“We are developing a private island and private beach location for basically water sports activity, a day at the beach, exclusively for cruise passengers,” Clasen explained.
“It’s not a resort, because this is an offering for cruise passengers where they stop a day and can do water sport activities. We will have a few private villas, but it’s mainly sun lockers, water sport activities, beach activities.”
The expansion is part of Cruise Saudi’s target to attract 1.3 million cruise passengers by 2035. Despite current regional challenges, he remains optimistic about achieving this goal. “With the 10 destinations we have in our pipeline, we will be able to hit that mark,” he stated.
The private island development will draw inspiration from successful Caribbean cruise destinations while maintaining a distinctive Arabian character.
“A lot of successful cruise lines have islands like that in the Caribbean, and we’re not copying that, but we’re sort of transferring it to the Arabian style to give the Arabian experience in the Red Sea,” he said.
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