‘Poor tourism infrastructure obstacle to tourism in KSA for now’

[al-Hasani]

LEADING THE YOUTH: SCTA President Prince Sultan bin Salman talks to participants at the Colors of Saudi Arabia contest.

RIYADH: ALI FAYYAZ

Published — Monday 16 December 2013

Last update 16 December 2013 2:00 am

Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), said that the National Tourism Project will be launched soon to become an integrated economic sector in the Kingdom.
“The National Tourism Project will transform the Kingdom into a first class state,” said Prince Sultan during the inauguration of “Colors of Saudi Arabia 2013” photography contest on Saturday evening at Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center (RICEC).
The Colors of Saudi Arabia is considered one of the most effective methods of tourism promotion and development as well as a means of documenting the country’s rich culture and heritage.
The seven-day forum aims to emphasize SCTA’s role in introducing Saudi tourism components: traditional, natural and cultural. It also aims to raise interest in domestic tourism with a focus on the urban aspect.
The forum encourages photographers, professional and amateurs alike, to highlight Saudi tourism sites, its heritage, antiquities, the diverse natural environment and urban development.
Describing tourism as a great national project supported by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and the crown prince, Prince Sultan announced the increase of the cash prize of the Saudi colors contest for photography from SR560,000 to SR 1million.
Commenting on the hurdles in the way of promoting tourism in the Kingdom, Prince Sultan said: “There is a lack of accommodation facilities, tourism services and huge pressure on the airlines because of the Kingdom’s bad roads which make commuting by cars a backbreaking experience.”
He also stressed on citizens to make early bookings for the shows. “Our aim is to do a road show around the Kingdom this year. We will also print the best images taken by our photographers and publish them in a book. In addition, we will focus on the development of short films,” he said.
The forum has organized a competition for short films with tourism related content in the Kingdom with the aim of encouraging the development of documentaries through creating a competition among producers and filmmakers, both amateurs and professionals.
There will be a maximum of four winners and each winner will receive awards and cash prizes.
The opening ceremony was attended by Prince Bandar bin Saud, president of Saudi Wildlife Commission (SWC); Abdullah Al-Jasser, deputy minister of culture and information; and members of the SWC board of directors.
The photo contest’s jury this season is composed of Abdullah Al-Dowaikhi from Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Al-Bosayedy of Oman, Baha Mdkoor of Egypt, Majed Sultan Al-Za’abi from Kuwait and Michael Freeman from the United Kingdom.
A large number of people participated in the contest including professional and amateur photographers from Saudi Arabia, residents and nationals of the Kingdom and the GCC, members of independent photographic associations and Saudi photographic associations, members of the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts, professionals in the fields of public relations, media, marketing, promotion and advertising, designers, technical directors and specialists in art direction and multimedia.

‘Poor infrastructure obstacle to tourism’ | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more.

Time to showcase KSA and areas such as this among many, many other areas:

faifa 2011 by al_gasemy, on Flickr


View over the Najran oasis by CharlesFred, on Flickr

View . by oldwolf., on Flickr

​

 

[al-Hasani]

@Arabian Legend @Yzd Khalifa @JUBA @Bubblegum Crisis @BLACKEAGLE etc.

Opinions please.

 

[Wahhab2701]

Do not worry so much about the infrastructur bro, it is all about money and you have it in abundance. What you must worry is the mentality of the people, are they ready wih the tourists and their culture? Arabs known with their hospitality, but hospitality toward the tourist is different. I happen to live in a place that striving to be a tourist destination so I have a bit of knowledge on this. Tourism is not the area of my expertise though.

 

[al-Hasani]

Do not worry so much about the infrastructur bro, it is all about money and you have it in abundance. What you must worry is the mentality of the people, are they ready wih the tourists and their culture? Arabs known with their hospitality, but hospitality toward the tourist is different. I happen to live in a place that striving to be a tourist destination so I have a bit of knowledge on this. Tourism is not the area of my expertise though.

Insha'Allah brother. All the best to the brotherly, sisterly and lovely people of Indonesia.

I have no experience with tourism either. Well apart from being a tourist from time to time a few times a year.

Hospitality there will be no problem more worried if people are ready to welcome everybody and everyone from the world. But most are already. I mean if the society is ready.

Are you living on Sumatra or Java? Because Bali is a world famous tourism destination so Indonesia have experience in this.

KSA might receive 15 million tourists each year (among the most visited countries in the world) but 90% of them are pilgrims to Makkah and Madinah. So a bit different.

 

[Wahhab2701]

Insha'Allah brother. All the best to the brotherly, sisterly and lovely people of Indonesia.

I have no experience with tourism either. Well apart from being a tourist from time to time a few times a year.

Hospitality there will be no problem more worried if people are ready to welcome everybody and everyone from the world. But most are already. I mean if the society is ready.

Are you living on Sumatra or Java? Because Bali is a world famous tourism destination so Indonesia have experience in this.

KSA might receive 15 million tourists each year (among the most visited countries in the world) but 90% of them are pilgrims to Makkah and Madinah. So a bit different.

I live in an island next to bali named Lombok island. The nature and the culture in lombok is so much similar with bali since lombok was ruled by balinese for a hundred years. The influence of Bali tradition is so obvious in our daily live. The only thing that distinguish us with bali is the main religion. 90% of balinese practising hinduism and 85% lomboknese are moslems.

From what bali experiencing, we have learned some lessons. Tourism will altered our culture, commercialise our tradition to attract tourist. This is inevitable. What we can do is to recuce the extent and this is what we are doing now in order to retain our islamic value.

As of KSA, I think you can start with promoting your tourist attractions to the moslem countries since moslems will have a better unddestanding to your culture. If you have gained a good market share among the fellow moslems then you can start promoting to the others.

There are tens of millions moslem pilgrims each year to saudi, if you can make half of them stay longer-thus will make them spend more money- in saudi by visiting your tourism spots you will have a great amount of $$$$. You can cooperate with travel/tourism agent to make a special tourism package for this.

My family and hundreds of thousands of indonesians have a tradition to visit the holy lands at least once a year. Sometimes they do it combined with tourism to several middle wast countries. If ksa can attract them to stay longer in the kingdom then the money they will spend will be contained inside the kingdom.

One interesting thing is, during the hajj and umrah pilgrimage session, Indonesian tv stations will make a huge coverage about the processions including some coverage to some interesting place and tradition inside the kingdom. Their journalist will roam ksa for that. But never we seen in Indonesian tv a coverage about the pictures you post here especially about the greenie stuff or the other unique cultures of saudi arabians. May be you have to start thinking about exposing those tv journalists to that other parts of ksa

 

[HAIDER]

Role of Najran in Islamic history ? ...Was politically notorious place during the emergence of Islam ?..What was the name of tribe who were settled during Holy Prophet times.

 

[al-Hasani]

@Wahhab2701

Thank you very much for your reply brother. I will make an more thorough reply tomorrow if I get the time. I have a very important exam coming up the 2 of January next year.

Same with you @HAIDER .

 

[Juice]

What is the second to last pic? Looks like an abandoned village in front of a new one.

 

[Wahhab2701]

@Wahhab2701

Thank you very much for your reply brother. I will make an more thorough reply tomorrow if I get the time. I have a very important exam coming up the 2 of January next year.

Same with you @HAIDER .

Focus on your exam bro. Do not bother so much to little trolls like me and @HAIDER

 

[al-Hasani]

Sorry for the late reply guys. I had made a reply in Word and stored it there yesterday but I forgot to post it. Here it is.

What is the second to last pic? Looks like an abandoned village in front of a new one.

Those are remains of a ancient town called Al-Ula. It is located in northern Hijaz. Many of the archeological remains/buildings are over 2000 years old. It is 110 km southwest from the ancient city of Tayma in Northern Hijaz as well which is a town with a nearly 4000 year old history.

Al-`Ula - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Role of Najran in Islamic history ? ...Was politically notorious place during the emergence of Islam ?..What was the name of tribe who were settled during Holy Prophet times.

Well, Najran is several thousands years old as well. Historically it was very close to the ancient civilizations of nearby Yemen which are among the oldest in the world.

Back in the time it was ruled by a Jewish king, then it had a sizable Christian community until Islam came. The Romans also occupied it for some time 2000 years ago or so.
It was also part of the Incense Route.
From 700 BC to 200 CE incense was the most valuable commodity in the ancient world and it grew in the wild mountains of Yemen and Oman. Still do to this day. Also in the mountains of southern KSA.

Read more here below:

Incense Route - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You can read about the Christian community here below:

Christian community of Najran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am not much into Christianity but I know that the Roman Catholic Church has quite a few Christian "saints" from modern day KSA and they are called the "Martyrs of Najran". Among others of course.

History of Jews in KSA and Najran:

History of the Jews in Saudi Arabia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It was an Yemeni Jewish King that killed those Christians because they would not convert so he made a siege around the town. If I remember correctly.

St. Aretas and the Martyrs of Najran | Aliens in This World

"Saint Arethas"

Arethas (martyr) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is still an ancient church in Najran btw…..

The name of the Jewish king was Dhu Nuwas:

Dhu Nuwas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In terms of Islamic importance then the ancient city of Najran was known to be a headquarter for weapon manufacturing and leather.
Prophet Muhammad (saws) also made a deal with the Christian community of Najran back in the day after receiving them in Madinah where he allowed them to pray in the mosque and observe Easter in 10 A.H.

It was called the "Treaty of Najran"

Prophet Muhammad Meets Najran Christians - His Life - Reading Islam - OnIslam.net

Today the region is home to Ismaili Shias, Zaydi Shias, Sunnis of the Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali madahib. So a very diverse place. Also a very beautiful province.

You can read more about the province/region below:

Najran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lastly there is a town called Najran, the ancient one I am talking about and then there is a province named Najran which the city of Najran is a part of today.

That was a bit long but at least you got some answers.

@Wahhab2701
Thank you for your reply, brother. Learnt a lot. I hope that KSA can follow the example of Indonesia and learn from a fellow Muslim country when it comes to tourism. I hope that the island you live on will be a new Bali in a more positive way!

 

[-SINAN-]

It's important to have a "target market" at first, i mean can the tourists drink alcohol or can they travel outdoor without wearing a hijab ?

Thank you for your reply, brother. Learnt a lot. I hope that KSA can follow the example of Indonesia and learn from a fellow Muslim country when it comes to tourism.

What about Turkey ? We are currently ranked "number 1" among muslim countries and ranked "number 6" in the world.

World Tourism rankings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[al-Hasani]

It's important to have a "target market" at first, i mean can the tourists drink alcohol or can they travel outdoor without wearing a hijab ?


What about Turkey ? We are currently ranked "number 1" among muslim countries and ranked "number 6" in the world.

World Tourism rankings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I do not think that we will see alcohol/pubs/discos in KSA in the foreseeable future. For example in other GCC countries, UAE in particular, that is normal and even in fairly conservative Qatar and Oman tourists can buy alcohol in the hotels. I simply do not believe that KSA is ready for that. You will always have very religious people saying that this would be a disgrace in the land of Makkah and Madinah. For that reason KSA is a special case. They would say, what is next and be very critical. What about the reaction of other Muslims? There are some very conservative and religious people in KSA. The new generation is different. KSA for instance has the 4th largest number of foreign students in the world in the USA after Chinese, Indian and South Korean students. They like me have obviously seen that side of life. But to implement the same way of life in KSA I find difficult but I have no doubt that it would be a big deal in terms of tourism because KSA has more or less everything to offer (mountains, hills, steppes, deserts, untouched beauty, very wild areas, 1300 tropical islands, several km long coastlines, ancient and old towns, modern towns and traditional ones etc). I mean it does not take more than a few hours of drive in nearly every city in KSA before you are in the middle of the wilderness. Many tourists love such things and look for that. Many traditional tourist spots in Europe can for instance not offer something like that.

Most importantly great weather all year round. Alone in terms of diving - the second biggest coral reef in the world is located in the Red Sea (after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia) and the Red Sea coastline in KSA is over 2000 km long and has 1150 islands and totally unspoiled beaches/areas. You can travel there all year since the weather is good all year around. Even during winter it is 25-30 Celsius.

I am surprised to see that KSA is number 16th in the world with nearly 18 million tourists per year. The vast majority must be pilgrims.

But imagine, once the expansion of the Masjid al-Haram and Prophet Muhammads (saws) mosque in Madinah are done how many more pilgrims there will come and if the government at the same time focuses on tourism then I seriously believe that KSA will move upwards in the charts very quickly. Some reforms need to happen though and I believe that focusing on the Middle East/MENA region and its people there and Muslims would be better firstly.

Turkey is an excellent example but you are way ahead (twice as many tourists) due to more liberal laws and being closer to the biggest tourist market (for many decades) in Europe. So we should not compare ourselves with Turkey at all for now at least.

As @Wahhab2701 wisely said then small steps must be taken firstly.
I am not sure if you know this but KSA has never had any tourist visa and we have had one of the most strict visa rules on earth and still have. KSA is not a country that you can visit just by taking your local flight and be in KSA after 3 hours of flight from Ankara.

Personally I am curious to see how this situation will look like in 5-10 years. Maybe I will laugh at my skepticism in 10 years times just as people would laugh if they heard that KSA in the year 2013 would have the 4th most foreign students studying in USA of any country in the world 10 years ago in KSA.

 

[-SINAN-]

I am not sure if you know this but KSA has never had any tourist visa and we have had one of the most strict visa rules on earth and still have. KSA is not a country that you can visit just by taking your local flight and be in KSA after 3 hours of flight from Ankara.

Mate, again thanks for the detailed posts, much appreciated.

I think at first you should do something about visa policy. I mean;

Visa policy of Saudi Arabia:

Citizens of all countries require a visa to visit Saudi Arabia except the citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council members of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates.

Visa policy of Turkey:

 

[HAIDER]

Najran was independent Country before Islam ? and ruled by Christian. May be stupid question, but Najran was ruled by AfroArabs ?. Means a very dark skin people migrated from Africa or brought as slaves ?

Any govt agency is working for the preservation of this landmark ? or new civic development make it disappear?.

I respect your post, but is their anyway that local historian tell us something. Because first hand history is totally different from what we read on websites. A village historian or story tellers.

 

[al-Hasani]

Najran was independent Country before Islam ? and ruled by Christian. May be stupid question, but Najran was ruled by AfroArabs ?. Means a very dark skin people migrated from Africa or brought as slaves ?

From what I am aware of then Najran was never a independent country but part of different civilizations, kingdoms etc. as I mentioned in my past post.

No, why should it have been ruled by Afro-Arabs? Afro-Arabs first entered the Arab world during the slave trade. Not 1400 years ago. Blacks were rare.

Arab slave trade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Although there have always been contact with the ancient civilizations of Ethiopia and the remaining Horn of Africa since Semitic people also live there.

Today it is different. There are Afro-Arabs living in Najran but not more than 5% I believe. In KSA 10% of the population are Afro-Arabs in total. Many are mixed with Arabs. Most Afro-Arabs in that region of KSA live in Jeddah and along the Tihamah coastline.

But in general people from Najran and other southern provinces in KSA are a bit more darker skinned than other areas but they are not Africans or Black people not that there is anything wrong with being that at all.

Here you can see what the average person from Najran looks like:

Many expatriates also live in Najran as in the remaining KSA.

Another report from this year:

Most tribal area of KSA by far btw. As you can see in that clip they are very hospital people.