Saudi Arabia, which not so long ago wanted almost nothing to do with tourism and then, two years ago announced it would go all-out to be one of the world’s top tourism destinations, is back on the path.
Last year, the panedemic put a stop to tourism in most countries, and Saudi Arabia was no exception. But the desire to diversify its economy and benefit from the jobs that come with tourism have not abated, and the Saudis now say they are expecting 50 million visitors in 2022.
That’s an ambitious reach; pre-pandemic only five countries had more than that. And those other countries don’t have a daunting reputation for banning alcohol, imposing strict dress codes on women and making it hard to get visas. Although the reforms announced in late 2019 addressed some of that, and Tourism Minister Ahmed Al Khateeb says the process will continue. But, he said, the rules will not ease enough to allow foreigners to drink alcohol.
Image: Madain Saleh by Sammy Six/Wikimedia
The remains of the Nabataean Kingdom are probably well worth seeing, but my wife says she will not set foot in a country that treats women like the Saudis do. I agree with her completely – and you can certainly get a beer in Petra!
I suspect most of the Saudi tourists are Muslims visiting Mecca. We’ll see how successful they are in recruiting non-Muslims.
I have no doubt that it will be a tough sell for Saudi Arabia to push itself into the top ten, especially given the issues for women in particular and for many others.
However, the number of pilgrim visitors, either for Hajj or Umrah, was 9.5 million in 2019, the highest total, out of a total of 20 million visitors to the country, even though ‘tourism’ visas were not issued until late in the year.
Obviously, some part of that is business travel or travel from neighboring countries, but it seems clear that there is a real potential for tourism, even if it never approaches the numbers for popular European and Asian destinations.