| Saudi floats to cruise

CRUISE Saudi has launched, set to serve as “the architect and the driver of the cruise sector in Saudi Arabia”.

Fully owned by the country’s Public Investment Fund, the business will be responsible for overseeing the building of infrastructure and services to transform the Red Sea into a “sustainable world-beating tourism destination”.

The initiative is attached to the country’s strategic framework Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to reduce the country’s dependence on oil and develop public service sectors such as tourism.

Based in Jeddah, the business will develop the infrastructure and services required to scale a full-suite cruise market along the Saudi coastline, which will include the building of new cruise terminals, marketing, shorex coordination and operations.

Cruise Saudi will be led by interim Chief Executive Officer Fawaz Farooqui (pictured), Chief Strategy Officer Ghassan Khan, Chief Development & Asset Management Officer Miguel Reyna and Chief Commercial & Operations Officer Mark Robinson, and Chaired by Minister of Culture Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud.

On stage at the launch with Farooqui in Riyadh was MSC Cruises Executive Chairman and newly minted Cruise Lines International Association Global Chairman Pierfrancesco Vago, who announced MSC’s upcoming 2021/22 season in the Persian Gulf would stop at Dammam.

Vago added it may be possible to develop a homeport in Jeddah one day, as MSC investigates the suitability of the Red Sea.

Also on stage was Abercrombie & Kent co-Chairman Manfredi Lefebvre d’Ovidio, who is also the former owner & Executive Chairman of Silversea Cruises, which has stops planned in Jeddah in 2022 and 2023.