{"id":42351,"date":"2018-03-19T10:44:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T10:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=42351"},"modified":"2018-03-19T10:44:54","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T10:44:54","slug":"saudi-arabia-to-begin-issuing-tourist-visas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=42351","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia to begin issuing tourist visas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><img class=\"wp-image-42357 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Daily-sun_Saudi_Arabia_tourist_spot-JP_picture-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"845\" height=\"473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Daily-sun_Saudi_Arabia_tourist_spot-JP_picture-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Daily-sun_Saudi_Arabia_tourist_spot-JP_picture-696x389.jpg 696w, https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Daily-sun_Saudi_Arabia_tourist_spot-JP_picture.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 845px) 100vw, 845px\" \/>Saudi Arabia plans to start issuing tourist visas &#8220;soon&#8221;, authorities said Tuesday, as the ultra-conservative kingdom seeks to attract international visitors in a radical overhaul of its oil-dependent economy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Tourism is seen as a major driver of growth as the kingdom attempts to wean itself off its dependence on petrodollars amid a protracted oil slump.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">&#8220;Tourist visas will be introduced soon,&#8221; Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, head of the Saudi tourism authority, was quoted as saying in a statement. He did not specify a time frame.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Aside from millions of Muslims who travel to Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj pilgrimage, most visitors currently face a tedious visa process and exorbitant fees to enter the kingdom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Prince Sultan's comment comes ahead of Saudi Arabia's first archaeology convention in Riyadh next week as the government seeks to showcase some of its historic sites.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">rown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in August announced a massive tourism project to turn 50 islands and a string of sites on the Red Sea into luxury resorts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Although richly endowed with natural beauty, the kingdom is hardly seen as a tourism hotspot.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Alcohol, cinemas and theatres are still banned in the kingdom, an absolute monarchy and one of the world's most conservative countries.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">But authorities in recent months have sought to project a moderate image with a string of reforms, including the decision allowing women to drive from next June.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The kingdom is also expected to lift a public ban on cinemas and has encouraged mixed-gender celebrations &#8212; something seldom seen before.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The moves appear designed to project the kingdom in a favourable light as it seeks to attract badly needed foreign investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saudi Arabia plans to start issuing tourist visas &#8220;soon&#8221;, authorities said Tuesday, as the ultra-conservative kingdom seeks to attract international visitors in a radical overhaul of its oil-dependent economy. Tourism is seen as a major driver of growth as the kingdom attempts to wean itself off its dependence on petrodollars amid a protracted oil slump. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":42357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=42351\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saudi Arabia to begin issuing tourist visas - Bornomalanews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Saudi Arabia plans to start issuing tourist visas &#8220;soon&#8221;, authorities said Tuesday, as the ultra-conservative kingdom seeks to attract international visitors in a radical overhaul of its oil-dependent economy. 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