Saudi Arabia is about as far off the tourist trail as it is possible for a country to be, but Mark Stratton is pleasantly surprised by what it has to offer
Imagine the Pyramids or Petra devoid of tourists during peak season. It is a difficult concept, but I am experiencing something similar – standing virtually alone in front of the 2,000-year-old Nabatean tomb of Qasr Al-Farid, mesmerised by a sunrise slowly turning the impressive façade golden yellow. Mada’in Saleh’s magnificent necropolis warrants being ranked alongside any of the newly elected Seven Wonders of the World. Yet it remains obscure and abandoned to the desert sands.
Not too many tourists make it to Saudi Arabia. A perception lingers that it is a closed society unwelcoming to outsiders; its appeal tarnished by routinely bad press that in recent months has included stories of rampant Islamic extremism and a sharia judicial system that approved a sentence of 200 lashes for a 19-year-old female rape victim. It has not always been easy to discover the realities of Saudi Arabia. Barring business travel and hajj pilgrimage to the kingdom’s two holy mosques, tourism has remained minimal.
Earlier this decade several UK travel companies were given permission to launch tours, but they pulled-out after a few seasons citing excessive bureaucracy and security concerns. Currently tourist visas are only issued to groups of more than four and not at all to single women under 30 unless accompanied by a male relative. Holidays must be organised via an approved Saudi-based operator while independent travel is forbidden.
In recent times, however, Saudi’s Supreme Commission of Tourism (SCT) has been talking about making the kingdom more accessible to non-Muslim tourists. It has been stated the Saudi leadership is keen to diversify its petroleum-based economy to provide future employment for a rapidly growing younger population.
trees outside the city’s
National MuseumI flew into Riyadh to put such ambitions to the test. Security is tight. Bomb-blast barriers ring my hotel and all foreign tourists receive permanent police accompaniment. In line with Riyadh’s conservative reputation, female visitors must wear abaya and alcoholic abstention is essential: restaurants serve nothing stronger than ‘Saudi champagne’ (apple juice and Perrier). Islam touches every walk of society: from citywide calls to prayer causing retailers hurriedly to shut-up shop, to deep-throated recitations of the Koran over the intercom as your flight hurtles down the runway.
‘Ours is not a closed country and we want visitors to come here to be educated about real Saudi life,’ says SCT spokesman Abdullah Al-Jehani when we meet at the commission’s sparkling new HQ in Riyadh’s embassy quarter. ‘People only see problems and violence when they watch TV,’ he adds, ‘but this is not true Saudi life’.
Al-Jehani says that while Saudi Arabia is not actively courting non-Muslim tourists the country will remove a few obstacles such as simplifying the visa process. ‘Saudi Arabia will open more,’ he predicts, ‘but we do not expect millions of tourists as they have in Dubai.’
Yemeni influences in the
southwestern town of
Abha
He believes Saudi Arabia will appeal to small group tours that are interested in and respectful towards Arabic culture and traditions. Currently, the SCT is concentrating its marketing towards Muslim tourists from the surrounding Gulf States; appealing to them with new coastal developments such as a proposed 23 billion riyal ($6.1 billion) residential marina resort at Al-Uqair.
There have been a lot of changes in Riyadh over the past decade,’ says Sir Alan Munro, the UK’s former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, over a meze lunch at the Bedouin-themed AlMazhan Restaurant. ‘There were no such tourist restaurants a few years back so visitors always ate in their hotel. Just to see women’s faces unveiled is also quite a change in conservative Riyadh.’ He believes the country has made progress towards reform and liberalisation in recent years: from greater press freedom to the formation of a new National Assembly. or the rest of the day I explore Riyadh’s dazzling techno-oasis. Cranes fill the skyline of what is said to be the world’s fastest growing city although new constructions will be doing well to surpass the futuristic Al-Faisaliah Tower. This Sir Norman Foster-designed glass skyscraper tapers towards a golden globe that hosts an upmarket restaurant (entitled, of course, the Globe). I ride the elevator to the 31st-floor observation deck of the 267m tower to enjoy the impressive views towards the equally lofty Kingdom Centre, which resembles a silver-plated potato-peeler.
Perhaps less expected than modern skyscrapers are Riyadh’s historical sites. The nebulous mud-walled lanes of Al-Diriyah shelter an Ottoman-style hammam and calamine-coloured palaces with exquisitely painted doors. The town was the venue for the forging of an alliance in 1744 between Mohammed Ibn-Saud and Sheikh Mohammed ibn Abdul Wahhab. This meeting laid the foundations for an eventual Al-Saud rule that embraced Wahhabi orthodoxy – a strict interpretation of the Koran.
the Kingdom Centre
in Riyadh
Diriyah’s crumbling lanes exude antiquity and I am told ongoing renovation is readying the site for an expected increase in tourist numbers by 2009.
Much of Saudi Arabia’s appeal, however, lies beyond its cities. Travelling around this vast country has been made easier by the recent arrival of low-cost carriers such as Nas Air, offering deals from around 99 riyals ($26) between Riyadh and Abha; my next destination.
Abha is located near Saudi’s southwestern border with Yemen and upon arriving I am driven high into the caramel-brown Asir Mountains passing fallow, terraced hillsides. Asir’s mountain villages exhibit Yemeni-influenced architectural traditions of exaggeratedly tall stone houses built into the cliffs. Following an exhilarating 3km cablecar ride from the 2,700m Mount AlSooda I am taken to Rijal Alma’a, where one of these archetypal houses, three-centuries old, has been converted into a museum showcasing local ethnology. The buildings are uniquely eye-catching: windows framed by snowy white quartz with brightly coloured geometric designs inside.
Saudi holidaymakers tend to come here to experience the indifferent weather. The day is overcast; a novelty not lost on my guide, Mazin. ‘See the clouds,’ he coos excitedly, ‘they’re so special to us.’
But Saudi Arabia’s real uncut diamond is Mada’in Saleh. Near Al-Ula, 845km north-west of Riyadh, Mada’in Saleh is Petra’s sister city. From around 100BC-100AD the Nabateans made fortunes from the taxes they levied on spice caravans travelling through their territory from Mecca to Petra. As at the rose-red Jordanian city, the wealthy built ornate tombs cut from maroon escarpments on the surrounding sandy plateau.
In some places those rocks have been blown by centuries of swirling desert winds into pedestals resembling grotesque toadstools.
The tombs number around 130, with the more grandiose reaching a height of 25m. Honey-coloured in daylight, reddening at sunset, their adornment borrows heavily from the different cultures with which the Nabateans traded.
Like Petra without
the crowds:
a typical
day at Mada’in Saleh
The Al-Bint tombs, for example, display stone-carved eagles and Gorgon heads with snakes sprouting like hair. Many others are decorated with Assyrian roses, Mesopotamian stepped-ziggurat designs, Greek urns and Roman columns and capitals. Unlike Petra, the tombs uniquely record the family details written in ancient Aramaic. In one, inscribed to ‘Amat daughter of Iramulat’, scattered bones remain inside the simple interior. ome 140 years ago, when British explorer Charles Doughty passed through here, evidence of the Nabateans was even more tangible. The intrepid and eccentric adventurer reported in his 1888 book, Travels in Arabia Deserta, of seeing the remains of ancient cadavers still wrapped in their tattered burial shrouds.
Today, a few tourists are discovering Mada’in Saleh. The first day I visited, I witnessed a Japanese tour bus becoming stuck in the soft sand. The following morning I met tour operator Sandra Veness from Australia escorting her first small group. ‘It’s such an exciting new destination and the Saudis bend over backwards to help you,’ she said, adding that she encountered few difficulties getting tourist visas in Australia. Generally, however, Mada’in Saleh is eerily deserted.
A comparison of the figures tells the story. Petra, the linchpin of Jordanian tourism, had already received 460,000 tourists by October 2007, while Mada’in Saleh recorded just 15,000 for the same period (and that figure included foreign ex-pats).
If tourism ever did take off, however, could the site cope? Mada’in Saleh is free to enter but, cumbersomely, visitors require a permit that can take a week to issue. No specialist guides seemed to be available on site and Al-Ula’s two hotels would quickly be over-stretched by just a few coach parties.
Then there is security. Saudi Arabia experienced a spate of high-profile attacks on Westerners by Al-Qaeda militants in 2003 and 2004. Saudi’s reputation suffered a further setback with the killing of four Frenchmen in the vicinity of Mada’in Saleh in February 2007. Since then a new dedicated tourist police force located in Al-Ula accompanies every tour party to the ruins.
‘Young Saudis are a lot less militant these days,’ says Hamed Al-Sulaiman, our youthful driver, next day as we speed over dunes into the desert surrounding Al-Ula. He tells me the Saudi regime has cracked down on extremists, but is also reeducating others at mosques under the tutelage of moderate imams. ‘American and British tourists are more afraid about security because of what they read in their press,’ he adds.
The desert scenery is as awe-inspiring as any in the world but sadly, for security reasons, Westerners are not permitted to camp out overnight. It is a shame because the area possesses the beauty of Wadi Rum with Grand Canyon-like cliffs; flame-red bluffs peeling away like slabs of tenderised steak before eventually weathering to convoluted pinnacles.
Al-Sulaiman, for one, believes such sights will lure people to the region. ‘The tourists will come,’ he says, as we drink Arabian coffee by a spellbinding formation known as the Dancing Ladies.
Musmak fort
in Riyadh glows
under floodlights
Khaled Al-Maeena, editor of the respected Jeddah-based Arab News agrees with our driver that his country has been made unfairly unpopular because of negative reporting. ‘Saudis are generally friendly. It’s OK for foreign media to be critical, but there are so many lies and exaggerations,’ he says. ‘The streets of Washington are far more dangerous than the streets of Saudi Arabia, but if one bomb goes off here then the whole world know about it. We have firebrand preachers whose rhetoric increases every time something happens in the Middle East, but there is no widespread hatred of foreigners.’
Perhaps the most understanding attitudes towards outsiders can be found at the port city of Jeddah, whose cosmopolitan outlook stems from its position as a gateway for Muslims heading to Mecca on hajj. Its sultry Red Sea location also gives the city the feel of a holiday destination. At night families picnic along the breezy Corniche while couples (married of course) stroll hand-in-hand enjoying ice-creams. odern shopping malls and skyscrapers are rising, but fortunately have not completely devoured the historical architecture of old Al-Balad district. Lofty 18th- and 19th-century merchants’ houses built from coral-line blocks are adorned with wooden latticework roshans (balconies) in poor condition. The rundown area is a thriving ghetto serving immigrant workers. Mazy souqs lead the visitor through spice stalls brimming with frankincense and myrrh, African textile shops, Moroccan cafes, Indian emporia and juice bars offering mixed fruit cocktails for just 5 rials ($1.30). The best preserved building is the four-storey Nasif House, built in 1858. Its internal stairway was built wide enough to ride a camel to the rooftop where there are shimmering views over Jeddah’s minaret punctured skyline.
At Nakheel Restaurant on the Corniche I meet Ahmed Ali Mostafa. His travel agency, Sadd Al-Samallaghi, deals with more foreign tourists than any other in the kingdom. The restaurant has a fun, 1,001-nights-themed interior clouded with sweet-smelling smoke exhaled from hookahs. Scarcely any female in the place wears a veil.
‘Tourism isn’t big business,’ says Mostafa. ‘Before 9/11 the British market was stronger, although we are seeing a rise in Japanese, Hong Kong and Malaysian visitors looking for somewhere different.’
Red Sea scuba-diving and passenger cruise stopovers in Jeddah are also gaining popularity and, he adds, some operators are lobbying authorities for permission to run coach tours to the holy city of Medina; currently haram
(forbidden) to non-Muslims.
It must be challenging tempting people to Saudi Arabia, I say. ‘No,’ he laughs, ‘but try organising 130 abaya sets for female passengers of varying sizes arriving on a cruise liner. That’s challenging.’
Where to stay
Jeddah Marriott Hotel
Palestine Rd
Corner PR Fahad
Street
PO Box 6448
Jeddah
Tel: (+966) 2 671 4000
www.marriott.com
Radisson SAS
Hotel Jeddah
PO Box 8483
Medina Road
Jeddah
Tel: (+966) 2 652 1234
www.jeddah.radissonsas.com
Radisson SAS
Hotel Riyadh
PO Box 18006
King Abdulaziz Street
Riyadh
Tel: (+966) 1 479 1234
www.riyadh.radissonsas.com
Riyadh Marriott Hotel
Al Ma’ather Street
Riyadh
Tel: (+966) 1 477 9300
www.marriott.com
Radisson SAS Hotel
Yanbu
PO Box 300
Yanbu Al Bahar, Yanbu
Tel: (+966) 4 322 3888
www.yanbu.radissonsas.com
VISITING SAUDI
Saudi Airlines
www.saudiairlines.com
Supreme Commission
of Tourism
www.sauditourism.gov.sa
Approved Saudi
tour operator
www.samallaghi.com
Where to stay
Hotel Corniche, Jeddah
www.hotelcorniche.com
Al-Ula Arac Hotel
www.arac.com.sa
INSIDE THE MIDDLE EAST AIRS
THURSDAY AT 15:30 AND 19:30;
SATURDAY AT 09:30, 15:30 AND
20:30; AND SUNDAY AT 19:30 (CET).
