- Kingdom’s rich maritime heritage is evolving into a high-value marine tourism sector
- Regulation, conservation and investment are driving growth across Saudi dive sites
RIYADH: Stretching thousands of kilometers along the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf, Saudi Arabia’s coastlines are driving a rapidly expanding diving and marine tourism sector.
Rooted in centuries-old pearl-diving traditions in the Farasan Islands and Gulf ports, diving has evolved into a structured, high-value investment sector aligned with Saudi Vision 2030 and the Kingdom’s growing blue economy.
Saudi waters offer a major competitive advantage through their rich marine biodiversity. National Center for Wildlife studies have recorded more than 1,200 fish species and over 300 coral species. The center has also developed the world’s largest Red Sea biodiversity database, containing more than 12.8 billion genetic sequences.
The Red Sea’s coral walls, pristine islands and deep drop-offs at sites including Yanbu, Umluj, Bayadah and the Farasan Islands attract advanced divers and underwater photographers. In the Arabian Gulf, calmer waters and historic shipwrecks around Jubail and Jana Island offer prime locations for wreck exploration, night diving and beginner training.
Generational heritage remains central to the sector’s human story.
At 89, Ali is a veteran of 60 years at sea. His maritime life continues through his four sons, who inherited the family boats and now work as dive instructors and marine guides for scientific expeditions. Ali continues to sell fresh catches from his stall.
Similarly, 68-year-old Abdullah Hussein recalls four decades shaped by the rigors of pearl diving in search of rare finds. That legacy is now being showcased to modern audiences through cultural events.
Modern enthusiasts reflect the sport’s professional evolution. Engineer Abdullah Al-Dosari began diving in 2017 and progressed through rigorous Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) certification to earn an Advanced Open Water Diver license.
His training covered essential safety protocols, decompression calculations and buoyancy control, helping him protect coral ecosystems as he explored sites from Half Moon Beach and Jeddah to Jana Island off Jubail, where he encounters turtles during daytime dives and explores underwater sites at night.
Building a regulated diving industry
A sophisticated regulatory and operational framework has been crucial to the sector’s growth.
The Saudi Water Sports and Diving Federation (SWSDF), established in 2018, has standardized professional licensing, surveyed more than 1,000 dive sites across 400 open-water destinations and accredited 68 shore-diving locations.
Through “Zawil,” an electronic portal for issuing diving permits developed by SWSDF, the General Directorate of Border Guard and Elm Company, the Kingdom regulates 93 accredited diving centers and supports more than 50,000 licensed divers.
Certified professionals oversee diving activities under strict safety and marine conservation standards.
Industry professionals say these standards are essential to sustaining commercial growth. Diving instructor Ahmed Ali said round-the-clock centers across the coastal regions provide access to premier destinations such as Jazan, Al-Lith and Bayadah.
International certifications from organizations including PADI, Scuba Schools International (SSI) and the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI), together with national accreditation from SWSDF, remain central to maintaining safety, protecting marine habitats and building tourist confidence.
The regulatory framework has also enabled practitioners such as licensed instructor Abdulaziz Al-Wabil to turn recreational diving into a business.
Al-Wabil trains young people from age 10 and leads week-long liveaboard “safari” trips, taking visitors on wreck-diving and marine-exploration excursions and turning deep-sea adventures into a sustainable tourism product.
From recreation to science and investment
Beyond leisure, diving has emerged as a platform for scientific discovery and high-value economic activity.
Divers participate in coral cultivation programs, ecological surveys and environmental monitoring alongside academic institutions. Their work is helping expand understanding of the Kingdom’s marine ecosystems while supporting conservation efforts.
The sector is also benefiting from major tourism developments, including The Red Sea and NEOM, as well as the expansion of cruise tourism.
Together, these developments are creating specialized opportunities in marine guiding, technical diving and underwater photography.
As Saudi Arabia builds on its maritime heritage and invests in marine conservation and tourism infrastructure, its diving sector is becoming an increasingly important component of the Kingdom’s blue economy and its ambitions to establish itself as a global hub for sustainable marine tourism.
