Tourism in the Kingdom 18, July 2010
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Saudi Arabia.Tags: Gulf tourism, Saudi Arabia, Saudi tourism, Tourism, Tourism in Saudi
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For some time now there have been vaguely official rumours that Saudi Arabia will start issuing ordinary tourist visas. Whilst a typical tourist visa (i.e. individual) may still be some time away, The National reports that there are numerous tourism companies which have been taking tourists to Saudi for some time now.
There must be a minimum of 4 people in a group before the companies will seek to issue visas. Women must be 30 years or older if they are not travelling with a man and must wear Abayas.
There is a lot to see in Saudi. Jeddah is reputedly a very attractive sea-side city. Nearby there are, like in Petra, spectacular Nabatean archeological sites. Diving too is sure to be a growth industry. Across the water from Jeddah there are countless bustling dive-orientated tourist destinations like the delightful Dahab. The reefs surely have to be on both sides of the world-famous Red Sea offering relatively unspoiled climbs. If they so choose, there’s quite the opportunity here.
Saudi are adamant, however, that they do not want to replicate the tourism of Dubai or Bahrain. Both cities have largely deserved reputation for – how to put this nicely – egregiously licentious behavior.
“Saudiana Jones vs the “Days of Ignorance”” 9, September 2009
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Saudi Arabia.Tags: BBC iplayer, Frankincense Trail, Saudi Arabia, Saudi tourism, Tabsir.net
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…has got to be the best title of the week if not month. Mabrouk to Tabsir.net. An interesting article too.
Along the same lines, BBC Iplayer has an interesting mini-series focusing on the Frankincense Trail. There is at least an episode and a half in Saudi. One interesting thing was that the female host went around Saudi without anything covering her hair. This, it seems to me, must have been a deliberate choice by Saudi tourism PLC, or whoever. I can only surmise that this is part of Saudi’s (rather lacklustre) tourism push. Nevertheless, Saudi looks beautiful…mumkin fee mustaqbal…
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