I was standing outside a centuries-old fortress trying to angle my camera away from the blinding sun. A few tourists milled around me – some buying tickets, others on Instagram or resting under the cooling shade of a nearby cluster of palm trees.
Picturesque holiday scene as it was, we were a long way from Italy, Greece or Mexico. The fortress in question was called Masmak, and I was standing in the heart of Riyadh on a hot spring day in the southern Gulf.
Saudi Arabia conjures up a number of images the mind’s eye, but tourism destination isn’t one of them. As one of the most conservative societies on earth – closed off from much of the modern world and still living under strict gender segregation laws – Saudi is often featured in the Western news, but not generally as somewhere to go for a spot of a winter sun.
However, under Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and his “Saudi Vision 2030,” this perception is slowly changing. Tourism is central to the government’s grand plans to diversify away from oil, and within the next few months the Kingdom is planning to ease strict visa regulations. But despite all this apparent progression, can such a complex, morally ambiguous country – and one still known for its human rights abuses – ever become a viable tourism destination, particularly for women?
As a single female traveller, I was surprised both by the relative amount of freedom I enjoyed and by the strict gender segregation I encountered. From a separate queue at passport control to single-sex dining rooms and shopping centers, I was made aware of my gender in a way I never have been before. But equally, Uber is cheap and ubiquitous, and I travelled alone around Riyadh and visited the major sites without difficulty. I did have to wear an abaya at all times in public, and while I have no doubt that this would begin to grate if I lived there, over the space of a week I was happy to adapt – and it meant I didn’t have to find culturally appropriate clothes from my own wardrobe.
Tourists will delight in many of the destinations Riyadh and the surrounding area has to offer. The National Museum of Saudi Arabia was a revelation. But even more than its immaculately presented exhibits and detailed model recreations of Mecca, I was struck by the passion of its female curator, who had only recently been allowed to take up the post and whose excitement at being able to explain the history of Saudi Arabia to me was contagious.
I also went to the souks and watched an auction of silver goods and handmade rugs between a group of men in gleaming white thobes. I later had lunch in Najd Village, a terra cotta walled restaurant where each table is hidden behind brightly colored, embroidered curtains, and diners eat cross-legged on the floor. We were a mixed group eating traditional Saudi cooking – slow cooked lamb, hummus and pita bread, garlicky tomatoes and bowls of savory rice pudding. Alcohol is banned everywhere in the Kingdom, so we sipped on water or juice.
One of my lunch companions was Prince Saud bin Sultan, who works closely with Bin Salman and who spoke with hopeful enthusiasm about the future of tourism. “There is so much to see in Saudi Arabia, so much to explore, but few foreigners have been able to visit here beyond Muslims headed to Mecca on pilgrimage. Now we want this to change — and slowly, we are making sure that it does,” he said.
While I spent my entire trip in Riyadh, most tourists will come to the country to visit Mada’in Saleh – that Unesco-listed Nabatean settlement of rock-carved tombs that is said to rival Petra in Jordan in rose-gold beauty, but without the crowds. Equally, there are the Sarawat Mountains, Jeddah (the creative capital) and the beaches of the Red Sea, where the government is planning to open a cluster of resorts where ‘dress codes comply with international standards’. In other words, women can probably wear a bathing suit.
Certain moments shocked me. As we walked across yet another blindingly bright central square, my guide casually informed me that this was where the beheadings were held. One night as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard the muffled thud of missiles being intercepted in Saudi airspace. As a woman, I was banned from using the pool, the spa or the gym in my Western-owned hotel, and when my hijab slipped to my shoulders one afternoon, a group of men leaving the mosque angrily remonstrated with me.
Most worrying of all is the Kingdom’s continued human rights abuses and treatment of citizens who speak out against the regime. Deciding whether to travel to country with a government that acts in a way you find morally reprehensible is an entirely personal one – over the years I have visited Zimbabwe, Burma and Uganda and have questioned my actions, while delighting in each place and its people. Saudi, more than almost anywhere else on the planet, falls into this morally complex category.
As a visitor, much of Saudi’s appeal lies in how impenetrable its borders have always been – those atmospheric bazaars and deserted ancient ruins. However, the country will need to travel quite a lot further down the path towards progression and female emancipation if it has any hope of rivaling Dubai or Jordan as Middle Eastern tourist hotspot.
