Riyadh: Saudi Arabia will begin offering visas on Saturday for the first time to non-religious tourists, days after the country was criticised at the UN for its grim human rights record.
Kick starting tourism is one of the centrepieces of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reform program to prepare the biggest Arab economy for a post-oil era.
The kingdom also eased its strict dress code for foreign women, allowing them to go without the body-shrouding abaya robe that is still mandatory public wear for Saudi women, as authorities open up one of the last frontiers of global tourism. Foreign women, however, will be required to wear “modest clothing”.
At the launch event that coincided with World Tourism Day, the president of SCTH Ahmed Al-Khateeb said that “the Kingdom opens its doors to the world at this historic moment, and we are a people that welcomes visitors and offers hospitality to guests.”
Tourists from 38 countries in Europe, 7 in Asia, as well as the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, will be eligible to apply for the new visas.
Among the destinations Saudi Arabia hopes tourists will visit are five UNESCO listed heritage sites including the ancient city of Mada’in, home to the Nabateans before Roman annexation in 106 CE; Riyadh’s Masmak Fortress—which Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman bin Faisal Al Saud seized in 1902 before conquering the regions’ disparate tribes and uniting them to form the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and the world’s largest oasis, which has 2.5 million date palms.
