ABU DHABI: A Saudi coastal city will be the site of Baheej’s first project in its strategy to develop exciting tourist destinations as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 plans.
The development company was launched on Tuesday by a joint venture between AWN Enterprises and Tamimi Group.
Baheej will study each city in Saudi Arabia to identify gaps in a tourist’s itinerary, and speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Future Hospitality Summit in Abu Dhabi, one of the executives involved with the company gave more details of its future plans.
“We are extremely in the early stages. That will be the first asset that will be developed and up and running by, I would say, the beginning of 2027,” said Abdulrahman Al-Bassam, executive chairman of AWN Enterprises and a member of Baheej’s board of directors.
Without sharing further details about the project’s site, the executive confirmed that “it will be a coastal city.”
Al-Bassam said he hoped Baheej would help Saudi Arabia meet its economic diversification goals for tourism, which includes attracting 100 million local and international visitors annually by 2030.
Norah Al-Tamimi, who hails from one of the Kingdom’s most influential family businesses, has been appointed the acting chief executive.
Expanding on the remit of the new initiative, Al-Bassam said: “Each project starts with an assessment of the destination, if the gap is for example, in the hospitality offering, we provide accommodation solutions. If the gap is in, let’s say, lack of visitor facilities, beach retreat or you name it, that would be part of the project assets that we would like to develop in a certain city.
Baheej is also focused on destination management, and will work hand-in-hand with local governments and authorities, as well as empowering local entrepreneurs “let’s imagine a local tour operator who owns, say, a couple of horses, we can provide them with the tools and marketing support to to use them a touristic experience, thus touring it into an opportunity” said the executive.
Al-Bassam noted that Asfar comes in “with its power as an investor, as well as a catalyst with regional players, be them regulators or service providers or affiliates and companies within the PIF conglomerate.”
Asfar was created by the Public Investment Fund earlier this year to support the Kingdom’s tourism strategy, which is a key part of Vision 2030.
Al-Bassam went on to state: “Whereas our alliance — Tamimi Group and AWN Enterprises — that’s the private partner within this partnership, comes in with their experience in contracting and in professional services as well as the hospitality, restaurants, and catering business.”
The company’s head noted that he views gaps in Saudi Arabia’s tourism as opportunities rather than problems, as this denotes room for improved tourism experiences.
“Each town in Saudi Arabia has its own uniqueness and we would like to tap into this,” he said.
