With sun & sand, no alcohol, strict dress code, Saudi might prove hard to be sold as a tourist destination

Saudi Arabia is now planning to generate some revenue from tourism and in a bid to do so, Shaden, a luxury desert camp in Saudi Arabia where air-conditioned tents look out on sandstone cliffs, will witness a grand opening on February 22nd.

A princely delegation is on its way. However, the place isn’t quite ready. The peacocks haven’t arrived for the gardens and the cow that was brought to provide fresh milk won’t stop mooning all night.

It “won’t shut up,” laments Ahmed Al Said, the project developer, as he gives orders over the clang of hammers and shovels.

The hard truth is that Saudi Arabia as a whole isn’t ready for tourists either. But its rulers are intent on revolutionizing the economy, and tourism is high on their list.

While they look at the bright side that it can create jobs for a youthful population, earn revenue to reduce oil-dependence, and help open the kingdom to the world but they aren’t not accepting the fact that they still aren’t ready and nothing they are planning will be possible unless tourists actually go there.

To be sure, the country attracts plenty of foreign travelers -- about 18 million last year, the most in the Arab world. But they’re almost all Muslim pilgrims visiting Mecca.

On the other hand, regular tourism barely exists as there are so many obstacles that a Saudi Arabia full of holiday makers is as hard to envisage as a Saudi Arabia that’s no longer hooked on fossil fuels.

For starters, Saudi Arabia doesn’t even issue tourist visas. Its alcohol ban, strict dress code and curbs on gender mixing are red flags for many people who’d be happy to visit Dubai’s beaches or Egypt’s pyramids.

Apart from all this, there are the secret police, who often keep a close watch on foreign visitors, and the religious police, who chastise people for moral violations. Even many Saudis prefer to vacation in Dubai, where they can wear what they want and go to nightclubs or movie theaters.