Tourism college opens in Riyadh as a means to create a booming tourism sector (about damn time)

[al-Hasani]

TOURISM TRAINING: Riyadh Gov. Prince Khaled bin Bandar, center, SCTA President Prince Sultan bin Salman, right, and Labor Minister Adel Fakeih at the opening of Laureate College for Tourism and Hospitality. (AN photo)

RIYADH: ABDUL HANNAN TAGO

Published — Sunday 15 December 2013

Last update 15 December 2013 1:21 am

Riyadh Gov. Prince Khaled bin Bandar inaugurated on Thursday the Laureate College for Tourism and Hospitality in the Salahudeen district of the capital.
It is the first form of institutional learning of its kind in the country and one of seven colleges to be built across the country as part of the ambitious long-term strategy of the government.
With a capacity of 2,000 students in 48 classrooms, the new hospitality institution will provide world-class tourism-related education and training programs to be applied worldwide in English for many of the disciplines that meet the needs of the labor market.
The event was attended by Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), and Minister of Labor Adel Fakeih.
“Tourism is an important economic sector and promises business opportunities” said Prince Khaled.
Prince Sultan said: “What distinguishes the tourism sector is that it provides a great number of jobs, especially to citizens.” He added that various Saudi hotels have assured him that Saudi youth have enjoyed gaining skills in the tourism industry. The SCTA president disagreed with those who say that Saudis don’t like to work. “Saudis are known for their achievements as business owners,” he noted.
Labor Minister Fakeih said the tourism and hospitality sectors are among the top three sectors that have the ability to attract Saudis and generate opportunities for youth. Prince Khaled, who is also chairman of the Board of Tourism Development in the region, said that the new college will contribute to creating job opportunities in the capital. "It will play a role in the rehabilitation of Saudi cadres to take up jobs in the field of tourism and hospitality.”
He spoke highly of the roles of the SCTA, the Ministry of Labor and the General Organization for Technical and Vocational Training (TVTC) in encouraging young Saudis to work in this important industry.

Tourism college opens | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more.

Well, have they been sleeping for decades? Oh, I forgot they preferred to have one of the most strict visa rules on earth instead of utilizing the huge potential that tourism actually has in KSA. No, it was better to import people from outside the country to do useless manual jobs (let us be honest here) instead of creating thousands upon thousands of jobs in the tourism sector. Ever lasting jobs. Where the women could come into focus.

Sometimes I can only shake my head on some of the decisions that take place in the region. I am not even going to talk about the neglect of all those historical sites….

Allowing tourism would not destroy any culture especially not the ones seen in KSA which are nearly not prone to changes. All the other GCC states have focused on tourism for years and they have not lost their local culture. Despite them having much, much less to offer. Only Oman comes remotely close. But they (UAE) are the ones which all the tourism that are visiting skyscraper cities which anyone can built. Those stupid excuses have been heard for years. They are not valid. Rant over.

Suddenly they woke up from their coma in the last few months. What the hell has happened?

Good morning, man. Time to wake up.

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

​

But unfortunately you don't build up a tourism sector overnight. This decision should have been taken years ago.

This news is by the way related to this thread about KSA deciding to allow tourist visas:

Tourist visas to be introduced in KSA

I am happy that the new generation is not as closed off otherwise I fear that Saudi Arabians who lived abroad for years would not be allowed to return! If it was up to some people in KSA that would be the case right now LOL!

Foreign tourists that are staying for a short or limited time period would destroy the local culture (logic of idiots) but having millions of non-locals (basically from everywhere INCLUDING the West) living among us, some always, is not. Most not even Arabs and many not even Muslims! Many can't even utter a word of Arabic to make matters worse! One can only shake ones head at the incredible stupidity.

I understand being a poor little country with decades of war and instability with little to offer in terms of tourism but what excuse do we have? No excuse other than idiotic rants.

Anyway encouraging to see such steps being taken forward at least, if anything.

"No tourism, no smile."

Let us see if I or another person can make a similar video just with tourism as the theme that results in 11 million views on Youtube.

 

[Wahhab2701]

One step at a time bro.everything must go through a process, that is the (proper) way to move forward.

 

[al-Hasani]

One step at a time bro.everything must go through a process, that is the (proper) way to move forward.

I know, bro. Those steps should have taking place a long time ago as I wrote though. All I was trying to say. When you care about your country such rants can occur from time to time.

 

[Wahhab2701]

Actually I want to say this in your other thread but since it has been spoiled by trolls I am not interested to it anymore

Even though UAE owns you in term of economic diversity by far at this moment but I think you have a big potential to beat them in the future. KSA has a much bigger population. And unlike UAE, KSA has a large number of worker class community (that what I saw during my stay in uae in 2007-their worker class community is almost non existence).

Saudi arabians may be a bit work shy for the time being, may be they are too picky in term of job. But it will change by the time. During my short visit to dammam in 2007 I saw your government seriously "force" the ksa people to go to labouring work and i heard they continuously doing it until now.

Tourism is a big business my friend. Actually there is one province in Indonesia that almost entirely live on this industry and their people live a good life with it. And currently, the place where I stay is striving to be the next tourism destination. We are still far away to be one yet we enjoy a good 7-8% economic growth in the past few years with huge contribution from tourism sector. So, congratulation for this good step

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Let us see if I or another person can make a similar video just with tourism as the theme that results in 11 million views on Youtube.

Sarcasm?

 

[al-Hasani]

Sarcasm?

No, I am serious. 1 million views would be more than a huge success though.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

No, I am serious. 1 million views would be more than a huge success though.

A success but seriously .. he aint serious.. more like sarcastic?

 

[al-Hasani]

A success but seriously .. he aint serious.. more like sarcastic?

He is serious. It is just a different approach to saying, "down with that stupid ban" than just a long boring speech. In the world we live in short videos with a humoristic input is the best way to get your message across.

Anyway let us return to the topic. My comparison was just a hope of somebody making a similar video about the tourism sector, LOL. They could use that video as an inspiration although I doubt that it will receive 1% of the interest given that women are always going to be more interesting than a tourism sector…..