The Saudi no more prefer the US, Europe for tourism

News agencies officials said that the Saudis no more prefer the US and Europe to spend their vacation and become inclines to visit Arab and Islamic states following September 11 attacks.

One official at a tourism company in al-Riyadh asked not to be identified said " there is a great recession in the number of Saudis who travel for the US and Europe and the Saudis are no more interested to travel there following the attacks against Washington and New York."

Another official in one of the main travel agency positioned in al-Riyadh said that number of Saudi tourists who head to the USA receded by 70% and to Europe by 50%.

He added that " most bookings for Eid al-Fiter were for the Arab and Islamic world especially Cairo, Beirut and Istanbul.

Eid al-Fiter vacation in Saudi Arabia which lasts for two weeks started on December 12. Thousands of Saudis travel inside the Kingdom and outside it during this vacation.

The same source explained that the booking inside the country increased by 20% in Eid al-Fiter in comparison with last year ( 2000) while booking for the Middle East cities have remarkably increased.

Many Saudis prefer to spend their vacations in their cars to Jeddah on the Red Sea and al-Dammam on the ( Arab) Gulf or to Bahrain via King Fahd bridge.

The same official said that" huge number of Saudis booked for flights to Indonesia and Malaysia ( the two Muslim states in Southern East Asia) while others headed for Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, but very few of them chose Europe and the USA.

The secretary general of the committee in charge of promoting tourism in Saudi Arabia prince Salman Bin Sultan said that the Saudis spent USD 14.4 billion in trips out of the country in 2000 where they spent 100 million nights.

He added that huge number of them had headed for Europe and the US before the attacks which targeted the US on September 11.

Following these attacks the US tightened conditions for granting visa to it especially the Saudis and asked for pictures to the Saudis bare-headed.

The Saudis used to be granted entry visa to the US without a visit to the embassy or consulate of the US within one or two days, but now they have to go to the embassy for a personal interview and to wait for security investigation measures which last weeks.

However, several Saudi students, businessmen and patients have returned back from the US to their country after they had been harassed following December attacks as the American authorities indicated Saudi involvement in these attacks.

The same official said:" it is clear that the recession in the number of visits to the US had to great extent had an adverse impact on our sales which reduced to 50%," noting that several travel agencies were shot down."