The Saudi government plans to spend about $1 trillion over 10 years to transform the kingdom into a tourist destination that has a huge market, but faces challenges. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal,.
The newspaper says that Saudi Arabia is “betting a trillion dollars” as part of its plan to diversify the economy away from oil to become the next tourist attraction, but the first tourists who visited it recently said that it was “not quite ready for them.”
The Wall Street Journal notes that they have arrived “in a country that is not quite ready for them, and tour guides need training and building hotels. Not all heritage sites are fully open.”
Retired American Dora Jane Fleischer, 65, told the newspaper, “We’ve seen a country that’s beginning to open up. That means we’ve seen a lot of random things that aren’t going to be popular tourist destinations.” She added that the Saudis “are trying to figure out: ‘What do we do with the tourists?'”
The Wall Street Journal cites another challenge as “Saudi Arabia’s sensitivity to criticism,” referring to a law that prohibits “harming the reputation of tourism”, a “vague and ominous law in a country whose human rights record alienates many.”
Bill Jones, who has led three American tour groups to the kingdom, since 2019, said that “the Jamal Khashoggi case always presents itself.”
He believes that “marketing for Saudi Arabia is never easy.”
The newspaper points to a lack of tourism infrastructure, so the government has allocated $4 billion to encourage private sector investment.
Although some social restrictions have been relaxed, such as a ban on the mixing of unrelated men and women in public, alcohol is illegal and dress codes for women are restricted even at most beaches.
The temperatures in the summer months are also very high, and some cities and civilian airports have been subjected to Houthi missile strikes.
Mecca, the most famous site in the country, is reserved for Muslims only. “It was a little disappointing,” said American tourist Fleischer, who was watching the pilgrims in Mecca on TV in her hotel room.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to attract 55 million international tourists annually by 2030, just over half the number who visited France, the world’s most popular destination, in 2019.
As the crown prince’s ambitions are being tested, as he emerges from diplomatic isolation in the wake of Khashoggi’s murder, his domestic standing largely depends on his economic promises, such as creating a million new tourism-related jobs, says the Wall Street Journal.
Persuading tourists to visit the kingdom also tests its ability to attract highly skilled foreigners as Saudi Arabia looks to overtake Dubai as a commercial hub in the Middle East.
To achieve its tourism goals, the kingdom needs to attract broad markets, not just travel addicts and wealthy retirees, according to the newspaper.