Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea destination has made history by becoming the world’s first to receive a destination-wide verification from Forbes Travel Guide — one of the most respected names in global luxury travel standards. The milestone, achieved through a year of rigorous independent evaluation, sets a new international benchmark for how entire tourism destinations deliver and sustain service excellence across every guest touchpoint.
A Year of Rigorous Assessment
Forbes Travel Guide — known globally for its anonymous inspectors and uncompromising standards — evaluated The Red Sea across five key points in the guest journey: reservations, land transport, marine and air transport, and on-ground experiences. To support this process, Red Sea Global introduced 182 precise service standards across eight core categories, including personalized service, efficiency, luxury, and professionalism. These standards were embedded through structured training, ongoing communication, and continuous review programmes spanning the entire destination.
The result is an accreditation that goes far beyond individual hotel ratings. For the first time in the guide’s history, an entire destination — not just a single property — has achieved a unified standard of verified excellence. This places The Red Sea in a class of its own on the world tourism map.
Three Resorts Earn Forbes Star Awards
Alongside the destination-wide accreditation, three of The Red Sea’s flagship resorts earned coveted placements on Forbes Travel Guide’s prestigious Star Awards list. Six Senses Southern Dunes, The St. Regis Red Sea Resort, and Nujuma — a Ritz-Carlton Reserve — all received recognition for their exceptional standards of hospitality, facility quality, and ability to create memorable, deeply personal guest experiences.
Red Sea Global CEO John Pagano highlighted the significance of the achievement: “At Red Sea Global, we have always believed that true luxury is defined not only by the beauty of a place, but by how guests feel throughout their entire journey. Receiving Forbes Travel Guide’s accreditation at a destination level is a powerful testament to the culture of exceptional service we have embedded across our teams and operators at every guest touchpoint.”
A New Global Standard for Destinations
Forbes Travel Guide CEO Hermann Elger described the accreditation as a landmark moment for the global hospitality industry. “Delivering and sustaining service excellence at a destination scale requires deep commitment across every stage of the guest experience, from booking to farewell,” he said. “The Red Sea has successfully established a new international benchmark for tourism destinations.”
The Red Sea welcomed its first guests in 2023 and has since expanded to nine open hotels, with Red Sea International Airport connecting the destination to Riyadh, Jeddah, and international routes including Dubai, Doha, and Milan. The destination’s achievement reflects Saudi Arabia’s broader commitment under Vision 2030 to build world-class tourism infrastructure, attract global visitors, and position the Kingdom as a premium travel destination. With this unprecedented accreditation, The Red Sea has not only delivered on that promise — it has redefined what destination-wide hospitality excellence looks like for the rest of the world.
