Jun 1, 2009

Saudi Tourism

Qusay Tourism, World 3 Comments

A few weeks ago Oman’s Ministry of  Tourism had and exhibition in Brisbane, to promote tourism to their country. A few smiling faces handing out brochures and a gentleman with a nice voice playing his oud and singing Arabic songs. Young Omani ladies were also there doing henna tattoos and talking to those who were interested in knowing about their culture and country.

I have never been to Oman, but I’ve seen the commercials and know few people who did, and they have nothing but positive things to say about the country, the people, and the Omani tourism industry.

Tourism is an industry, it is a product that needs to be packaged and delivered in a way which satisfies the customer in order to either comeback for more, or be a mouth that spreads the word, and it is not only something that those that work directly in the industry need to be aware of, but also everyone in the country.

The Saudi tourism initiative, which has been going on for years, has, if I dare say, failed miserably. The Arabian peninsula is geographically the same. What Oman has, Saudi has.

However, Saudi tourism, is based on what the industry calls religious tourism, Makkah and Madinah. A few other sites are also included in the package, depending on what Islamic method one follows… and even then, there is… not a lot of room for that.

Will we see the Saudi tourism industry prosper sometime soon?

Every year many Saudi student clubs, which are funded by the ministry throw parties on the Saudi national day, yet it has not been as nice as the Omani exhibition… many Saudi ladies also have complained of the lack of thier participation in some of these events.