"Saudi Arabia to open up to foreign tourists with new visas"

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Sure is. I went there in the 1990s for work:

A trip (report) down memory lane - Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the 90s!

One of my most favourite trips was one for work to Saudi Arabia and Egypt in 1994. I've just gotten around to getting my 35mm slides scanned (hat tip to flyboyal) and I thought I'd share some of those memories here. It was certainly an unusual trip - actually two, which I'll combine into one...
www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Being a male helped :(

Edit: Australia on the list for eVisas (this doesn't look like an official site)

Saudi Arabia e-Visa | Electronic visa for Saudi Arabia

Saudi visa online. Get your electronic e visa to Saudi Arabia and enjoy your travel. Apply now to get your evisa for Saudi Arabia!
www.saudiarabiavisa.com www.saudiarabiavisa.com
 
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RooFlyer said:
Sure is. I went there in the 1990s for work:

A trip (report) down memory lane - Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the 90s!

One of my most favourite trips was one for work to Saudi Arabia and Egypt in 1994. I've just gotten around to getting my 35mm slides scanned (hat tip to flyboyal) and I thought I'd share some of those memories here. It was certainly an unusual trip - actually two, which I'll combine into one...
www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Being a male helped :(

Edit: Australia on the list for eVisas (this doesn't look like an official site)

Saudi Arabia e-Visa | Electronic visa for Saudi Arabia

Saudi visa online. Get your electronic e visa to Saudi Arabia and enjoy your travel. Apply now to get your evisa for Saudi Arabia!
www.saudiarabiavisa.com www.saudiarabiavisa.com
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Your TR does make it look a very interesting place to visit.
 
Will be interesting to see how quickly the Saudis manage to develop their tourism industry. A new ME destination that doesn't jeopardise ESTA waivers should have quite a bit of potential.
 
Isochronous said:
Will be interesting to see how quickly the Saudis manage to develop their tourism industry. A new ME destination that doesn't jeopardise ESTA waivers should have quite a bit of potential.
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Just get a B1/B2 visa for LOTFAP. You know immediately where you stand that way - and they are valid for 5 years. That’s all I did after visiting Iran and Sudan. No issues or questions about why I had visited those places and the visa was granted the same day.
 
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Mrs tizey had the opportunity to visit Saudi while her folks were expats there for a few years, just a couple of years ago. I couldn't obtain a visa to go with her (not direct family).

I wonder how the cultural differences will be enforced on shorter stay tourist visas? It was reinforced to her and her father that he was responsible for her during her visit after picking her up from Bahrain, she had to be escorted by him in public (same as his wife who lived there with him), etc. Plus the Abaya and headscarf.. though they got away without the scarf most days due to having black hair.

As for driving? Some of the stories he came back with still make him wonder how he wasn't killed on the roads. Insanity on wheels, and complete disregard for safety, particularly if roadworks were being performed.
 
tizey said:
I wonder how the cultural differences will be enforced on shorter stay tourist visas?
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Its been reported that the restrictions will be relaxed for visitors, but time will tell. Its all very well for the higher-ups to make announcements that sound nice to the west, but what the 'on-the-ground' mob do, is anyone's guess.

tizey said:
As for driving? Some of the stories he came back with still make him wonder how he wasn't killed on the roads. Insanity on wheels, and complete disregard for safety, particularly if roadworks were being performed.
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That was my experience driving there 20 years ago. You had to keep eyes everywhere and always expect anything. Small example I remember; road with 3 lanes of traffic each way stopped at intersection at traffic light. Left hand drive, so we are in the right hand side of a dual lane highway. When the light turned green, the car in the right-most lane immediately turned left, in front of the other 2 lanes, to make a left turn.

A story I heard: One lane each way road out in the desert; going over a rise. On both sides of the rise, a truck was overtaking another truck. At the crest, all 4 met each other, at speed ....
 
I watched Levison Wood's Arab tour recently, things he showed in saudi were very different to what I expected. However, it hasn't tempted me to visit there, unless things change dramatically.

Sky l Vision – Sky’s production and distribution arm

Discover outstanding drama, comedy, factual & entertainment and formats for your viewers.
skyvision.sky.com

Oman on the other hand!

P.S., thanks JohnM the the Native Eye link.
 
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I've roamed a few places friends and relatives have cautioned me not to such as Namibia, Zambia, Korea during the MERS scare, Turkey, Kenya, Nicaragua, Bolivia.

Now on the list for the next couple of years after seeing trip reports on here are the "stans".

However, still have an uneasiness about countries where I sense there is no rule of law that I can comprehend or have familiarity.
 
Saudi Arabia does intrigue me and hopefully one day we will visit.
Have transited through JED with SV once before but I’d genuinely like to have a look around the place. Mrs Jase isn’t as keen which is understandable
 
Mattg said:
There are also many international airlines flying to Dammam (DMM). Not sure if that's worth visiting though?
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Only if you like oil refineries :) I see that King Fahd International Airport there is the largest in the world ... in terms of land area.
 
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