Last Thursday this paper published a write-up about Shamanseer Mountains in Al-Kamil governorate. If developed properly, this little known mountain, about 90 km north of Makkah and lying some 2,000 meters above sea level, will add to the tourist allure of the Kingdom and boost domestic tourism thereby creating job opportunities for the local people. It has beautiful green scenery and several waterfalls. It may have been just a coincidence, but the write-up came two days after the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage issued its latest report on tourism in the Kingdom. According to the report, job opportunities in the tourism sector will reach 1.7 million by 2020. Last year more than 751,000 people, 27.1 percent of them Saudi, were working in this sector. Tourism is the second most important economic sector after banking in terms of Saudization. According to a study made by Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting firm, an average Saudi tourist spends SR43,000 on his foreign trips. An estimated 6 to 7 million Saudis leave the Kingdom every year on vacation abroad. With a little imagination and some hard work, a major part of this money could be diverted back to the local economy and this is what the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) has been trying to do by encouraging Saudis to see more of their own country and appreciate its cultural and natural richness. When Lonely Planet (the largest travel guide book publisher in the world) says Saudi Arabia could be “one of the great travel destinations of the Middle East”, it may be aiming at foreign tourists. But how many Saudis have heard of their country's vast array of artifacts and monuments of Arab/Islamic heritage, the coastline, mountains as well as historical monuments that date back to the pre-Islamic era such as the ruins of Madain Saleh, a UNESCO World Heritage site that can boast of an otherworldly scenery and Al-Ula, said to be one of the Middle East's most impressive ghost towns. Then there are the turquoise waters of the Red Sea, the breezy mountains of the Asir National Park and the captivating beauty of the Empty Quarter and Jeddah's restored old quarter. Now UNESCO has included the Hail rock art in its World Heritage List. By making such local destinations more interesting, colorful and exciting, more of those vacationing Saudis can be persuaded to stay home for their holidays. Any promotion of domestic tourism has to be seen in the context of its capacity for creating job opportunities. Jobs will result from tourism and sectors related to it. It will create service-sector jobs for a swelling youth population that can no longer look to the government as a sole source of employment. This will also help diversify an economy heavily dependent on oil. Domestic tourism in Saudi Arabia soared by 25 percent in 2013, according to SCTA. About 23.8 million people traveled within the Kingdom in 2013, compared to 19 million the previous year. Though the number of domestic tourists has been increasing steadily, more needs to be done to make the growth commensurate with the effort and money invested in this sector. Travel agencies need to provide attractive tourist packages with reasonable prices to those who want to spend their vacations in tourist spots. Saudi Arabia's 28 million population is the largest in GCC. This means domestic tourism has a huge home market to tap. Even countries like Sri Lanka that attract large number of foreign tourists are going out of their way to promote internal tourism. This is to ensure that hotel rooms and other infrastructure facilities don't remain unused or underused during the traditionally slow “off peak” demand periods normally associated with tourism. As a first step, the SCTA should promote lesser-known attractions like Shamanseer Mountains by using the print and electronic media.
