JEDDAH: As light pollution increasingly obscures the night sky across much of the world, Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea destination is taking an unusual approach to luxury tourism: preserving darkness.
Red Sea Global has introduced a destination-wide dark-sky strategy aimed at protecting pristine night skies, supporting biodiversity and creating a new benchmark for sustainable tourism. The initiative spans resorts, infrastructure and public spaces, with the developer seeking international dark-sky recognition not only for the destination as a whole but also for individual resorts — an approach sustainability experts say would be a world first.
Lola Okunrinboye, sustainability director at Six Senses Southern Dunes, said most dark-sky certifications are awarded at the destination level.
Lola Okunrinboye, Sustainability Director at Six Senses Southern Dunes. (SUPPLIED)
“The goal is for properties such as Six Senses Southern Dunes and Desert Rock to receive their own certifications. To our knowledge, no destination elsewhere in the world has pursued certification at the resort level in this way. That is what makes the initiative particularly innovative.”
