Jay Rosen is the Chief Financial Officer in both The Red Sea Development Company and AMAALA which are part of Vision 2030’s ambitious blueprint for the future.
He oversees finance, investment, and asset management for new international luxury tourism destinations set along the Red Sea as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. He is responsible for driving long-term strategic value by planning, implementing, managing, and controlling all financial and investment related activities of the Company.
Jay holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration where he concentrated on real estate finance.
Tell us more about the project’s development phases and what it will include?
The Red Sea Project (TRSP) has already passed significant milestones, and work is on track to welcome the first guests by the end of 2022, when the international airport and the first hotels will open.
Development of the airport is well underway. Accessible by 80 percent of the world’s population in less than eight hours, it will serve up to one million passengers per year from 2030 onwards, in line with TRSDC’s commitment to limit visitor numbers based on the environmental carrying capacity of the destination.
All 16 hotels planned in Phase 1 will be open by the end of 2023. Upon completion in 2030, TRSP will comprise 50 hotels, offering up to 8,000 hotel rooms and more than 1,000 residential properties across 22 islands and six inland sites. The destination will also include a luxury marina, entertainment, and leisure facilities.
To protect and enhance the destination’s pristine natural environment, we will leave 75 percent of the destination’s islands undeveloped, and have designated nine as sites of significant ecological value.
Over 600 contracts have been signed to date, worth over SAR 17bn ($4.5bn) and more than 8,000 workers are already on-site.
The project is set to contribute as a much as 22 billion Saudi riyals to the nation’s GDP, by creating investment opportunities for the private sector and developing the Kingdom’s tourism industry while preserving the nation’s precious cultural and environmental heritage.
Where do you see tourism in Saudi Arabia in the next five-ten years?
Tourism is of key importance to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, a bold blueprint to diversify the KSA economy and reduce its dependence on hydrocarbons. Investment in the tourism sector is one of the pillars of Vision 2030 and a key driver to the Kingdom achieving its aspirations and goals.
The ambitions of the sector that accord with the Saudi Vision goals are: Aiming to increase the contribution of the tourism sector in the GDP from its current rate of 3 per cent to more than 10 per cent by 2030; creating an additional one million jobs to reach 1.6 million jobs in the tourism sector by 2030; attracting 100 million local and international visits annually by 2030.
Prior to the pandemic in 2019, the Kingdom made the historic decision to open its heart and its doors to tourists from different countries of the world - setting the wheels in motion to reach the Vision 2030 goals.
The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) is an integral component to building a tourism industry that has previously not existed on this scale in the Kingdom. The tourism destination will showcase the Kingdom’s natural beauty, open the world to Saudi Arabia, regenerate the local areas and provide economic, social, and environment benefits for generations to come.
The Red Sea Project, with its 200km of coastline, archipelago of 90 untouched islands, dormant volcanoes, desert, mountains, natural treasures and a rich variety of wildlife is well placed to do that. In addition, the area is steeped in cultural history. The destination is crisscrossed by ancient trade and caravan routes. Rock carvings and petroglyphs are testament to the destination’s extensive heritage.
The tourism industry is witnessing a shift in the types of travel experiences consumers want, with an increase in demand for sustainability initiatives. For instance, Booking.com's 2019 (pre-Covid 19) sustainable travel report shows 70% of global travellers say they would be more likely to book an accommodation knowing it was eco-friendly, whether they were looking for a sustainable stay or not. As the world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism project, TRSP is well placed to accommodate these tourists.
By completion, The Red Sea Project will employ around 70,000 people directly and indirectly by providing jobs in the wider community and creating opportunities for local businesses, entrepreneurs and supporting industries.
By building a tourism destination entirely from the ground up, TRSDC is in the fortunate position of being able to help define what the new tourism industry will look like in Saudi Arabia. We are aiming to revolutionise luxury travel and use tourism as a force for good. Over the next five years, we hope tourism developments in Saudi Arabia and around the world will follow our lead and learn from our trail blazing approach to sustainable development.
Did COVID-19 impact negatively on your development schedule?
Although the past year posed a very real threat to our progress, TRSDC demonstrated remarkable strength and resilience by making significant progress.
Throughout the ongoing pandemic we have been able to maintain our workforce on site safely which has allowed construction to remain on target. To ensure that everyone had enough space to social distance, we moved a proportion of workers to temporary accommodation outside of our Construction Village, including four local schools. In fact, TRSDC was presented with the Excellence in Health and Employee Safety award for our Covid-19 Health and Safety Plan, which worked to ensure the safety of employees both onsite and at the company’s headquarters.
Fortunately, COVID-19 has not halted our growth and, while following strict government and health guidelines, we have been able to continue developing our destination and are still on track to welcoming our first guests by the end of 2022.
What does TRSDC look for in potential partners and investors, and what opportunities currently exist?
Tourism in Saudi Arabia is an untapped market and projects like ours present a unique opportunity to capitalize and participate in this growing industry. There are no shortage of opportunities whether it be on the design, construction, and delivery of the development or the operations and service delivery of the destination.
We have had great success to date as we have already awarded over 600 contracts worth more than SAR 17 billion. Our partners, both domestic and foreign, are not only industry leaders in their respective fields, but they share our values around sustainability and the environment. And that is paramount to us.
As for investment opportunities, there are number of ways to participate whether it be through a joint venture partnership in the commercial assets, such as the hotels, residential, retail, and entertainment components, or via concession agreement to build-operate-transfer the infrastructure components such as the utilities, schools, hospitals, etc.
A great example of this is the award of our utilities package to an international consortium led by ACWA Power who will design, build, operate and transfer TRSP’s utilities infrastructure. We are not investing any of our own capital and instead have committed to purchase our utilities from the consortium for the next 25 years.
All in all, we offer partners and investors “front and center” access to an untapped and fast-growing market segment in Saudi Arabia. The tourism sector in the kingdom is a focal point of Vision 2030 with the goal to attract over 100 million visitors by 2030. We welcome like-minded parties and look forward to working with them.
Why has The Red Sea Development Company chosen to sponsor GCC BDI’s Chairman Summit 2021?
We have chosen to sponsor GCC BDI’s chairman summit as we are committed to promoting good governance standards. We are clear on what we stand for as an organisation and our commitments are ambitious. Good governance standards touch every aspect of our business, from construction right through to how we work with partners and investors.
Our efforts to boost our governance and compliance procedures are done with the ambition of creating a truly ground-breaking tourism destination in the most accountable, transparent, and responsible way possible.
Sponsoring this event is an incredible opportunity to stand alongside other like-minded leaders and raise awareness about the pioneering work we are doing at TRSDC. It also gives us the chance to learn from other influential innovators as we work together to establish the future of Environmental, Social and Governance development.