Saudi Arabia opening door to foreign tourists

By Eileen Alt Powell

ABHA, Saudi Arabia (AP): With its vast desert wastelands and myriad oil wells, Saudi Arabia would hardly seem an alluring destination for tourists.

But the kingdom hopes to change that image with a program - still in its infancy - that is bringing small groups of American, European and Japanese visitors to sites ranging from ancient Nabatean carved tombs to old Ottoman forts and, yes, even oil wells.

Although the kingdom has been a pilgrimage destination for the world's Muslims for hundreds of years, it has been all but closed to Western tourists.

Even now, as the country seeks to diversify away from oil, Saudis are torn between the desire for profits from foreign tourism and fear it will corrupt a deeply conservative society where women cover from head to toe, and alcohol, gambling - even movies - are forbidden.

"The government is being very cautious about it," says Prince Bandar bin Khaled, deputy head of the Tourism Council for the southern Asir region. "Hundreds of thousands of people from different cultures could offend the local population without even knowing it."

A public backlash, he adds, "could delay (foreign) tourism for years."

In the past year and a half, Saudi Arabian Airlines has sponsored about 20 groups of foreigners in the kingdom, says Farouk Elyas, manager of tourism programs for the national carrier. "It's growing, and we want more this year."

The kingdom is looking for what it terms "educational groups" that have an interest in learning about the archaeology and culture of Saudi Arabia. To date, it has approved requests from universities, alumni groups and museums.

Here in Abha, the provincial capital of Asir, some 800 kilometers (480 miles) south of Riyadh, the capital, the government and private companies hope to draw foreigners to terrain they wouldn't expect to find in Saudi Arabia - lush, tree-covered mountains.

White stucco resorts tucked in Abha's craggy hillsides have long been summer retreats for desert-weary Saudis and Gulf Arabs. Even in summer, the breezes are cool. Falcons swoop over the ravines, and wild monkeys play beside the valley streams.

Local developers such as the Syahya tourism company are investing millions in new hotels, cafes, amusement parks and even Swiss- and Austrian-built cable cars to ferry tourists up and down the mountains.

One example of the Syahya properties is the 136-room Abha Palace which opened in April 1997 and is operated by Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, based in Dallas. Among other amenities, the hotel has two restaurants, a lounge, indoor swimming pool, tennis court, bowling alley, game room and a health club offering massage, sauna and Jacuzzi. In the rooftop Nahran Mediterranean Restaurant diners have an outstanding view of Lake Saad and the city of Abha.

Saleh Gadah, director-general of Syahya, believes Abha could attract eco-tourists by offering "something for everyone" because its resorts are just an hour and a half drive from the coral beds of the Red Sea to the west and the Empty Quarter desert to the east.

Bedouins already are gearing up to take tourists to desert encampments, and the King Faisal Foundation in Riyadh is planning a new hotel and golf course on the sea with a private beach where Westerners - including women in skimpy suits - can swim.

The Inter-Continental Hotel just outside Abha operates tours throughout the area, including one to the Asir National Park, the Red Sea, and Najran, a 4,000-year-old city near the Yemeni border which has one of the kingdom's newest and best museums.

The enormous Asir National Park stretches from the Red Sea to the desert east of the mountains. Actually, it's a series of small non-contiguous parks each with its own campground and picnic area.

Most visitors to Saudi Arabia go to Madain Salah in the northwest, which is famous for tombs carved in the hillsides 2,000 years ago by the Nabateans, who also built the rose-red city of Petra in Jordan.

And many stop at Hofuf in the east, where a crumbling Ottoman fort stands guard over one of the world's largest oases.

Some groups even visit oil fields and petrochemical plants in the Eastern Province, and most shop for silver Bedouin jewelry, brass coffee pots and ceremonial daggers in the old bazaars in Riyadh.

Still, foreign visitors must contend with a long list of prohibitions. They cannot enter the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. In addition to the ban on alcohol and gambling, unmarried couples can't share hotel rooms.

More importantly, they must abide by Saudi dress codes.

"We provide women with abayas (black gowns) and ask them to wear headscarves," says Laurie Carmick, vice president of Peter Voll Associates in Palo Alto, California, which arranges tours to the kingdom. "Men are told no shorts. And we enforce it."

Rather than taking away from the experience of traveling to an exotic place, she says, the rules reinforce it.

"There aren't that many places in the world where you have to mesh yourself into the country to see it," she says. "It adds an interesting perspective."