Tourism Impact on Marine Ecosystems in the North of Red Sea

Abstract

The unique marine environment of the northern Red Sea region is among the richest and most productive marine ecosystems in the world. The sea is populated with extensive algae blooms and at least five types of coral reefs. However, the region’s tourism sector is largely dependent on the surrounding environment, including the coral reefs, which are highly sensitive to human activities. A large tourist project (Neom) is scheduled to be installed in the northern Red Sea, further increasing tourist activities in the area and leading to human intrusion into crucial but fragile marine habitats such as seagrass beds, coral reefs and mangrove stands. The present study investigates how human activities are currently affecting Red Sea ecosystems. Field visits were done in order to investigate and to study human activities impact on marine ecosystems in the north of Red Sea. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first of its kind to evaluate the impact of tourism on marine ecosystems in Saudi Arabia’s northern Red Sea coast.

COP26 Visions for a Net Zero Future – Regional Profile for the Arabian Peninsula

“…Indeed, tourism is an important growing sector in the regionfor example, the Hajj festival was anticipated to bring in USD 150 billion in income and generate 100,000 jobs from 2018-2022 168 and KSA has set a target of attracting 15 million foreign Umrah pilgrims by 2022 and hopes to be able to accommodate 30 million foreign and 20 million Saudi pilgrims per annum by 2030. Major tourism projects include extensive infrastructure developments such as the construction of artificial islands and the operation of resorts in desert conditions which require extensive cooling and desalination systems and food imports which are inherently energy intensive 119,169 . Furthermore, international tourism depends on fossil-fuel-based aviation and has pronounced implications for net-zero and environmental sustainability.…”