The hot news of current times is that the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia has announced relaxation in their visa and tourist policies. Previously, the country was very peculiar regarding their policies and laws about tourists. For the most part, leisure tourism was restricted. The visas were available only for the workers, their dependents, students, and to Muslims offering Hajj and\or Umrah. But things now seem to be changing in KSA.
Online Tourist Visas Made Easy:
Online applications for tourism visa are to largely accepted from over 49 countries, including the UK and US. The officials claim to complete the entire online visa process and grant a visa in less than seven minutes, which pays emphasis on the easiness of the task.
Dress Code Relaxation for Tourists:
Previously, laws strictly supposed women to wear abbayas and to cover themselves in public. This is a thing that Muslim women do, as suggested by their religion, but the non-Muslim women were also made worn abbayas as per the country’s laws. However, now they have lifted this obligation, and the women visiting Saudia Arabia are free to wear whatever they like as far as its modest.
The 2030 vision:
The Government is taking these steps to promote tourism and mark an increase in GDP through this to support their 2030 vision. Multiple steps have been taken in this regard, including the relaxation in dress codeand visa policy.
However, the government remains firm on the no-alcohol policy for tourists.
Mahram Policy for Women Tourists:
As compared to the case before, women tourists are now also able to apply for visa without a legal male companion. The concept of Mahram is a valid one in the religion of Islam, but to bind non-Muslim women with this rule seemed a bit too far stretched. So,they have lifted that condition as well.
Easy Visas – a Step forward:
According to the tourism chief Ahmad al-Khateeb all of these changes are set to promote tourism in the country and generate revenue which was previously on a very slow track due to the strict visa polices of the country. However, now after the announcement of the new visa regime, things are seeming to improve for the better.
The details of the new visa policy were to be announced later, but the big news is that Saudi gates are now open for over 49 countries, marking an important moment in the Saudi history.
Alex
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