Saudi Arabia intends to establish a number of tourist resorts along the 1,800-km-long Red Sea coastline as part of its efforts to promote domestic tourism and win the hearts of local and foreign tourists. Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul-Aziz, the secretary-general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism, yesterday signed an SR2.08 million contract with an international consultancy to prepare a plan for tourism development projects on the Red Sea. Prince Sultan said the agreement was aimed at making a long-term plan for tourism development on the Red Sea coast and islands having a total length of 1,800 kms and depth of 25 to 50 kms, making use of international expertise. The consultancy will prepare the plan in cooperation with a group of experts from the SCT and Saudi universities. This is the first phase of a project to establish tourist resorts on the Red Sea. --MORE 1034 Local Time 0734 GMT
