Crown Prince launches mega tourism project in AlUla

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday inaugurated the "Sharaan Natural Reserve" in AlUla governorate, including a resort, as a part of the vision unveiled by the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), the Center for International Communication (CIC) said in a statement on Monday.

The Sharaan Nature Reserve is designed to protect some of the most important and significant natural habitats for conservation of biodiversity in the region. Located in the Eastern Canyons, the site features spectacular red-rock canyons, steep-sided ravines, and wide valleys. pic.twitter.com/1irFBZW5tB

— CIC Saudi Arabia (@CICSaudi) February 10, 2019

“The beautiful canyon area of Sharaan is now a designated nature reserve, setting a new standard in the region for re-balancing ecosystems and reflecting Saudi Arabia’s commitment to protecting the natural environment of AlUla," said Minister of Culture Prince Badr Bin Abdullah Al Saud, who is also the governor of RCU.

برعاية كريمة من ولي العهد، صاحب السمو الملكي الأمير محمد بن سلمان، تعلن الهيئة الملكية لمحافظة العلا عن تدشين "رؤية العلا" باعتبارها إرثا حضاريا للعالم، ووجهة عالمية للتراث، وندعو العالم بكل ترحاب لمشاركتنا في هذه الرحلة لتطويرها. #رؤية_العلا pic.twitter.com/LeEH3ip02L

— الهيئة الملكية لمحافظة العلا (@RCU_SA) February 10, 2019

"The Sharaan Nature Reserve initiative includes the establishment of a global fund for the protection and reproduction of the Arabian leopard," he added.

The fund – which intends to be the biggest fund of its kind - will enable Sharaan Nature Reserve, in addition to other sites, to become a suitable area for releasing and reintroducing the Arabian Leopard in future.

Resort launched

Separately, the Crown Prince also viewed the presentation of a luxurious resort of Sharaan in AlUla province, designed by Jean Nouvel, a French architect who designed Louvre Abu Dhabi.

The resort will be part of a fully-integrated master-planned destination for visitors with 40 keys including 25 suites, 10 pavilions, and five resort residential estates. It will also have 40 separate residential estates as well as an International Summit Centre. The resort is expected to be completed by 2023.

“The location is rooted in history, it is rooted in the history of the land, the history of the Nabateans. To be able to frame the Sharaan landscape at different heights is amazing, discovering the distant horizons, discovering the different qualities of light,” said Nouvel.

Planning and progress on the resort is underway, and the development is open to investment, the statement added.

Set in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s northwest region, AlUla contains a number of archaeological treasures and ancient cities, with evidence of major civilizations including most notably the Dadan/Lihyan and the Nabataean kingdoms.

Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the prominent southern capital of the Nabataeans, the CIC statement said.

As part of its strategic roadmap to 2035, RCU plans to engage the local community and contribute SAR 120 billion in growth of the Kingdom’s GDP by 2035 through these projects, as well as several other recently launched key initiatives.