Coral Bloom, an International Tourism Destination on the Red Sea

The Coral Bloom project will revitalize the Red Sea region due to its designs inspired by beautiful landscapes and wildlife. (SPA)
The Coral Bloom project will revitalize the Red Sea region due to its designs inspired by beautiful landscapes and wildlife. (SPA)
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Coral Bloom, an International Tourism Destination on the Red Sea

The Coral Bloom project will revitalize the Red Sea region due to its designs inspired by beautiful landscapes and wildlife. (SPA)
The Coral Bloom project will revitalize the Red Sea region due to its designs inspired by beautiful landscapes and wildlife. (SPA)

With the announcement by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of a giant tourism project in the west of the Kingdom, experts told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Coral Bloom project would be able to revitalize the Red Sea region due to its designs inspired by beautiful landscapes and wildlife.

The Kingdom is heading towards an unprecedented tourism boom, according to the experts, following the recent announcement of a number of major projects. The Coral Bloom comes to activate the first investment in tourism on offshore islands in the country, they underlined.

The hotels and resorts will be operated by the most prestigious international hotel brands, while lightweight building materials with low thermal mass will be used, thus achieving higher energy efficiency and less impact on the environment.

The project responds to the concerns of visitors in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, by providing wider spaces between hotels, villas and internal corridors.

The Red Sea Project will be developed as a luxury tourist destination that stretches over an area of 28,000 km, and includes more than 90 islands spread over an attractive coastline, characterized by soft white sands, dormant volcanoes, desert, mountains and stunning nature, in addition to distinctive cultural attractions.

The CEO of the Red Sea Development Company, John Pagano, said in recent statements that the estimated cost of the project ranged between 12 and 14 billion riyals (USD 3.7 billion).

The Coral Bloom will include 11 resorts and hotels operated by a number of the most famous global hospitality brands. All the hotels and villas will be composed of a one-story building, which will merge sand dunes, in order to ensure the preservation of the surrounding landscape without any obstruction to the magnificent view on the Red Sea.



Saudi Arabia’s Flynas Seeks to Raise up to $1.1 Bln in IPO 

The price range for the offering had been set at between 76 and 80 riyals per share. (SPA)
The price range for the offering had been set at between 76 and 80 riyals per share. (SPA)
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Saudi Arabia’s Flynas Seeks to Raise up to $1.1 Bln in IPO 

The price range for the offering had been set at between 76 and 80 riyals per share. (SPA)
The price range for the offering had been set at between 76 and 80 riyals per share. (SPA)

Saudi Arabian budget airline flynas is seeking to raise up to 4.1 billion riyals ($1.1 billion) from an initial public offering in Riyadh, it said on Monday. 

The airline, which is selling a 30% stake to investors in the first IPO by a Gulf airline in almost 20 years, said the price range had been set at between 76 and 80 riyals per share, implying a market capitalization of up to $3.6 billion. 

Saudi Arabia has targeted tourism as a key pillar of its domestic economic agenda to reduce reliance on oil revenue. 

The listing would be only the third by a Gulf airline after the United Arab Emirates' Air Arabia and Kuwait's Jazeera Airways. 

The institutional book-building subscription period, which started on Monday, will close on May 18, flynas said, adding that 34% of net the IPO's net proceeds will be used to finance the airline's growth strategy and for general corporate purposes. 

Part of the remaining proceeds will be distributed to selling shareholders, which include Kingdom Holding Company.