The Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) has launched a radical new approach to sustainability called Balanced Tourism, which is a critical milestone in its ambition to accelerate overall sector growth and become the regional leader in sustainable tourism by 2025.
The vision, which was unveiled at the Arabian Travel Market 2022, the region’s premier travel and tourism event, emphasises the Emirate’s leadership in conscious tourism and coincides with its character as a nature destination seeking to improve, grow, and adapt.
The Authority is redefining tourism in the UAE under the all-encompassing umbrella of Balanced Tourism by putting all areas of sustainability (environment, culture, conservation, and livability) at the core of its investment and growth plan.
It is building a destination that will connect with today’s responsible tourists by avoiding difficulties around ‘over-tourism,’ such as overdevelopment, crowding of heritage sites, and the destruction of its unique natural environment.
Balanced Tourism comes after the Authority announced its Sustainable Tourism Destination Strategy in September 2021, which focuses on four key pillars to ensure the Emirate’s long-term viability and growth: Sustainable Development, Cultural Conservation, Attractions Built with Purpose, and Community and Liveability.
Raki Phillips, Chief Executive Officer at Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, said: “The need for good stewardship of our cultural heritage, environment, people and infrastructure has never been stronger, especially in post-pandemic times. Balanced Tourism does exactly that as we become ever mindful of the economic, social and environmental impacts on tourism. Simply put, it’s time to move beyond just using less plastic to adopting an all-inclusive approach – from ensuring new projects such as hotels are developed at an organic pace to building new attractions with sustainability at their core.”
Sustainable Development
Ras Al Khaimah is known as the ‘nature Emirate,’ with 64 kilometres of pristine beaches, wildlife-rich mangroves, rolling terracotta deserts, spectacular wadis, and gorgeous mountains.
Natural assets are the foundation of the destination’s fundamental qualities, and their preservation is a top priority. To avoid rapid, ill-planned expansion and overcrowding, the tourism board has taken a thoughtful approach to new hotel developments, consulting with hospitality partners to ensure spacious venues with thoughtful, sustainable landscaping and maintaining a measured pipeline, limiting new properties to just two per year.
Cultural Conservation
Cultural preservation is part of the integrated strategy. Because of its importance as a trading route, Ras Al Khaimah is the most fortified Emirate, with over 65 forts. It also has the most archaeological monuments, with four potential UNESCO World Heritage sites, of any Emirate. The Authority has developed a long-term investment strategy to safeguard and improve these and other important cultural projects.
Suwaidi Pearls Farm is the only place in the UAE where indigenous pearls are still grown by hand to maintain the Emirate’s culture and traditions. It has also begun a three-phase rehabilitation project in Jazirah Al Hamra, one of the Arabian Gulf’s last surviving pearl diving and seafaring communities.
Attractions with Purpose
Experts are working in accordance with UNESCO rules to rebuild the hamlet, using traditional and ecological materials, with the goal of making it accessible to the public as a desirable tourist destination by 2025.
All planned attractions will be purpose-built with sustainable standards and practices under the Balanced Tourism platform. Around Jebel Jais, as well as the more than 20 new sustainable tourism initiatives being created around the Emirate, visitors can anticipate ecologically aware development.
The projected Scallop Ranch in Al Hamra Marine, for example, is a first-of-its-kind attraction in the UAE that will support and expand awareness of the marine ecology by including seagrass and sea cucumber species.
Community and Liveability
In addition, as part of its Balanced Tourism approach, the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Authority is embracing the notion of liveability. The Authority was ranked the sixth-best workplace in the UAE by Great Place to Work® for 2022 in the Small & Medium Organizations category, making it the highest-ranking government institution.
In 2021, it was recognised as one of the Best Workplaces for Women and a Great Place to Work, making it the first and only organisation in Ras Al Khaimah to get this honour. The Authority has also launched RAKFAM, a set of activities focused on improving connectivity, community life, and amenities for Emirate tourist workers.
Sustainability as a driver of growth
Government entities, hotels, and private sector industries gathered in Ras Al Khaimah in December last year, led by the Authority, to pledge collectively to deliver the Emirate’s Sustainable Tourism Destination Strategy, which will see it become the regional leader in environmentally conscious tourism by 2025. The guiding principles, which are led by the Authority and provide a framework for action throughout a wide programme of activities, are as follows:
Protecting and enriching the Emirate’s cultural and natural heritage, delivering new sustainable tourist initiatives, working with corporate, government, and community partners to secure economic benefits from tourism investment and human capital development regular monitoring and benchmarking.
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