Environmental Safeguarding: The Red Sea's Blueprint for Regenerative Tourism

By Raed Albasseet, Group Chief Environment and Sustainability Officer at The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) and AMAALA 

As a real estate developer, The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) has weaved Environment and Sustainability into every phase of the business lifecycle from concept to operations. Our Environment and Sustainability commitment is deeply embedded in the DNA of our work, in a way that is profoundly greater than most developers. Our team goes above and beyond to protect, enhance, and ensure a sustainable positive impact on our environment and the surrounding local communities and economy. We strive to make a ripple effect here at home and on the travel and luxury tourism industries around the world. 

To fulfil this huge scope, we established a team of environment and sustainability experts to deliver on the promise and ensure the delivery of the world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism project. Our team has diverse nationalities, ages, specialties and capabilities. We have a multitude of niche expertise where our team span from freshly Saudi graduated juniors to directors who have 15 years-plus experience in managing environmental and sustainability aspects across all business disciplines. We are all environmental and sustainability leaders, advocates, and ambassadors who are inspired by nature and the opportunity to implement regenerative development techniques to protect our environment both now and for future generations.

The team’s responsibility encompasses development, master planning, construction, design, and operations of the giga-projects. In addition, we are engaging directly with 100-plus contractors onsite as we take on the roles of environmental management and implementation in support of delivery team as a dedicated core function of our business philosophy. 

Our philosophy is aligned with the UNSDGs and international best practice to ensure that the development that we are delivering has a positive impact and blends with its thriving ecosystem. We have recently published our inaugural sustainability report, a comprehensive overview of our approach to integrating sustainability within our operations and performance across economic, environmental, social and governance matters. We are looking forward to demonstrating the progress and milestones of the ambitious standards we set for ourselves in the next sustainability report. 

We believe sustainability is about reasonability managing our resources, applying common sense, and ensuring that future generations can continue enjoying what we have. Sustainability and regeneration are also firmly rooted in the enhancement of socioeconomic opportunities as part of our social development strategy. We reinforced our commitment to supporting local communities through building partnerships, developing capabilities, and enhancing livelihoods. 

It feels that the sky is the limit in terms of the support we receive regarding our environmental and sustainability goals. People working for this company are not joined in minds alone, but also in hearts. This project is a new benchmark for sustainable tourism for the kingdom. A true once in a lifetime opportunity.