Vienna Eleuteri, an environmental scientist who works with the Red Sea Authority in Saudi Arabia, spoke during the World Yachting Summit in Monaco, sharing how Saudi Arabia is looking for new ways to combine sustainability with tourist development. During her interview with Daily Nautica, media partners for the event, she then explained how it is possible for environmental action and the luxury market to coexist. According to Vienna Eleuteri’s experience, the tools needed are a flexible framework, that follows the UN’s 2030 sustainable objectives, and the national strategy for the Red Sea, which aims at protecting its ecosystem.

A luxury market and sustainability

“Combining the luxury market and environmental sustainability – says Vienna Eleuteri to DN – might seem like an oxymoron, a paradox, but it is, in fact, the opposite. What I experienced in Saudi Arabia and with the Red Sea Authority, which regulates nearly 200kn of the coast, is that we are bridging the gap between what we know from a scientific point of view and what we do and encourage others to do, building a strict yet flexible plan, a framework, which embraces a regenerative economy for the sea.”

Tools

“The base needed to achieve this – notes the environmental scientist – is obviously Mission 2030, and, more specifically, the national strategy for the Red Sea that has been published recently. Based on this, we are truly bridging the gap between luxury and sustainability so that all pilasters for sustainability are taken into consideration: not just the environmental aspect, but also social and economic pilasters.”

by Arianna Gurreri