LUXURY TRAVEL 73 mangrove expansion, coral gardening, and enhancing turtle nesting in educational programmes.
The social responsibility of Shebara island resort is to improve the education and work opportunities for the rural local inhabitants within the area, and in particular, improving diversification and empowering local Saudi women throughout its colleague programme.
Environmental conservation is a key pillar of the project, strictly adhering to the UNWTO goals for sustainable development. The self-sustaining development will include its own 110,000sqm solar farm, desalination and reverse osmosis plant, sewage and water reclamation treatment plants, eco-friendly recyclable materials, environmentally native landscaping, and only electric land and marine vehicles allowed within the resort, resulting in a“ zero” energy, water, waste, and transport impacts. Each villa was constructed off-site to minimise environmental disruption. Inclusive of regenerative mangroves, coral, and fish life to substantially improve the natural surroundings.
The primary goal of the project was to determine the best way to preserve and enhance the biodiversity surrounding the habitat, while offering a luxurious experience that will attract visitors from around the globe and promote Saudi Arabia as a top-tier marine eco-tourism destination.
The LEED-Platinum resort seeks to minimise its environmental and literal environment footprint by cantilevering the accommodation spaces above the regenerative coral gardening within the protected lagoon, and set back over 50m from the natural coral reef with only a few square meters of ground impact at the base of the supporting column. The result is an aerial accommodation pod that almost seems to defy gravity and suspends the guest directly above and within the beauty and untouched marine ecosystem, providing an observation platform for guests to witness the fish, birds, and turtles that thrive in the area.
ISSUE 78 2026 THE ART OF LUXURY