Saudi Arabia opens its doors to foreign tourists

The Saudi dailies stated on Tuesday that the government of Saudi Arabia is close to opening the kingdom to tourists, by approving general rules to issue tourist visas to foreigners.

The Saudi Cabinet approved these general rules in its weekly meeting held in Riyadh on Monday, but it called for releasing detailed rules before permitting the visitors to visit the historical and tourism sites in the country.

The Saudi paper al-Iqtisadeyah quoted sources in the tourism sector as saying that the directives of the government state that tourists can travel to the kingdom in groups through a local company which organizes the trips and guarantees the travel of all members of the groups until the end.

In September 1999, the kingdom approved a plan that permits those who come to Saudi Arabia to perform al-Omra rituals to travel all around Saudi Arabia instead of having their trip limited to the holy shrines in Mecca and Madina.