Saudi Arabia in Pictures

[azzo]

Beautiful sites but why they don't use them for tourism these places can bring wealth.

Thank you.

First, Saudi Arabia's strict laws, for example but not limited to:

- Alcohol Ban
- Male guardian for female travelers.
- Photography laws.

(Notice I didn't mention the dress code, since I believe it's part of culture and won't be a critical issue when visiting KSA)

The absolute Alcohol ban in particular, even for foreigners or in hotels, is especially problematic. From personal experience, A lot of businessmen and professionals who come to visit Saudi Arabia to hold talks or participate in conventions, cut their planned visit short and escape to Bahrain/UAE to quench their thirst before going back home, and when asked, they said they couldn't take it anymore, as it was a drastic change for them and that they had become really irritable and unsociable.

Second, the lack of proper family oriented attractions and tourism infrastructure. even though Saudi Arabia got top notch facilities and tourist spots, they're mostly gender segregated, which is problematic for families when visiting Saudi Arabia (and even domestic tourists when they travel within Saudi Arabia) this is a bigger issue in the capital than the coastal areas though.

Third, Saudi Arabia sees the hassle of going through these sudden changes in a short amount of time to accommodate your "typical" tourist and have a "typical" tourism industry, simply not worth it (socially and economically), especially since Saudi Arabia has more than sufficient revenue from other sectors.


In light of all those challenges, the Tourism authority laid out a plan to further develop its domestic tourism, where it sees the millions of Saudis who travel abroad to vacation as their prime target for future development.

 

[Tunisian Marine Corps]

nice i thought KSA just sand

 

[Saif al-Arab]

nice i thought KSA just sand

KSA is a very diverse country with almost every type of landscape. From 3000 meter tall mountains, to areas below sea level, to several 1000 km long coastlines, some of the biggest coral reefs in the world, almost 2000 islands, tropical areas, fertile valleys, volcanic areas, lakes, all kind of deserts, snowy areas, steppes, lowlands, fertile areas, old villages, modern cities constructed from scratch, biggest palm groves in the world etc.

It's really a problem that fellow Arabs have such prejudice about other Arab countries. Most ignorants also think that Tunisia is just sand but every educated person knows this not to be the case especially Arabs. Or other Arab countries for that matter. I work actively to change such stereotypes among the few ignorants here on PDF and elsewhere brother.

The Arab world is home to the oldest civilizations on the planet, some of the longest coastlines in the world, some of the most beautiful coastlines, coral reefs, thousands of tropical islands, the longest river and some of the longest ones, dozens upon dozens of mountain ranges, lakes, fertile areas the size of whole countries of a significant size, forests, tropical areas, some of the largest cities in the world, the oldest ones etc. The list is enormous.

This thread bellows shows this clearly.

The Arabian Peninsula and Arab world in photos

Besides deserts are very beautiful, just take a look at the photos of deserts from KSA in the previous page. In KSA you have mountainous deserts, volcanic ones, lakes in desert, fertile deserts throughout the spring and autumn, the ones with some of the largest sand dunes on the planet, rocky ones etc.

Anyway a few more photos.

إطلالة على قرية ذي عين الأثرية - الباحة by Jawad Roumi جواد الرومي, on Flickr

Al Ula mountains &[HASHTAG]#1575[/HASHTAG];&[HASHTAG]#1604[/HASHTAG];&[HASHTAG]#1593[/HASHTAG];&[HASHTAG]#1604[/HASHTAG];&[HASHTAG]#1575[/HASHTAG]; - Saudi Arabia by Eric Lafforgue, on Flickr


Jazan (2) by zak.abb, on Flickr


Madain Saleh view - Saudi Arabia by Eric Lafforgue, on Flickr


Kabah, Masjid Al Haram by Kashmirikhan!, on Flickr


Mekkah by CamelKW, on Flickr


Old Jeddah by BA&AA, on Flickr

 

[Malik Alashter]

Thank you.

First, Saudi Arabia's strict laws, for example but not limited to:

- Alcohol Ban
- Male guardian for female travelers.
- Photography laws.

(Notice I didn't mention the dress code, since I believe it's part of culture and won't be a critical issue when visiting KSA)

The absolute Alcohol ban in particular, even for foreigners or in hotels, is especially problematic. From personal experience, A lot of businessmen and professionals who come to visit Saudi Arabia to hold talks or participate in conventions, cut their planned visit short and escape to Bahrain/UAE to quench their thirst before going back home, and when asked, they said they couldn't take it anymore, as it was a drastic change for them and that they had become really irritable and unsociable.

Second, the lack of proper family oriented attractions and tourism infrastructure. even though Saudi Arabia got top notch facilities and tourist spots, they're mostly gender segregated, which is problematic for families when visiting Saudi Arabia (and even domestic tourists when they travel within Saudi Arabia) this is a bigger issue in the capital than the coastal areas though.

Third, Saudi Arabia sees the hassle of going through these sudden changes in a short amount of time to accommodate your "typical" tourist and have a "typical" tourism industry, simply not worth it (socially and economically), especially since Saudi Arabia has more than sufficient revenue from other sectors.


In light of all those challenges, the Tourism authority laid out a plan to further develop its domestic tourism, where it sees the millions of Saudis who travel abroad to vacation as their prime target for future development.

I'm all hope this country get better regime. I know you don't like wat I'm saying but that's just my view.
This country with a better regime with all te money it has it will be a pride of the Arab world.

I believe Iraq and Saudi with better regime can bring prosper to the region>>>>> but still with better regime.

nice i thought KSA just sand

That's what I thought honestly.

I don't know why Arab left this greenly land to live in the mere desert????.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Old Jeddah:

Shia (Twelver) from Eastern Province in KSA during Ashura.


من متنزه جبل كوهسنكي by Tayseer Alabyadh, on Flickr


Ashura Al Hussain by Tayseer Alabyadh, on Flickr


Ashura Al Hussain by Tayseer Alabyadh, on Flickr


Ashura Al Hussain by Tayseer Alabyadh, on Flickr

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Photos of ordinary people from Eastern Province;


Ghadeer by Tayseer Alabyadh, on Flickr


من أرض الدوخلة by Tayseer Alabyadh, on Flickr


عروس من أرض الدوخلة by Tayseer Alabyadh, on Flickr


أبوموسى العصافرة by Tayseer Alabyadh, on Flickr

بين نخيل تاروت by Tayseer Alabyadh, on Flickr

ويبقى الحسين by Tayseer Alabyadh, on Flickr

ويبقى الحسين محرم الحرام ١٤٣٦ ه‍ by Tayseer Alabyadh, on Flickr

ويبقى الحسين by Tayseer Alabyadh, on Flickr

Rice production in Eastern Province. Slowly dying unfortunately.

I should cover every historical region and current region of KSA and it's people and traditions one day although it would require a lot of work.

 

[azzo]

I'm all hope this country get better regime. I know you don't like wat I'm saying but that's just my view.
This country with a better regime with all te money it has it will be a pride of the Arab world.

I believe Iraq and Saudi with better regime can bring prosper to the region>>>>> but still with better regime.

We all want what's better for our countries. What I personally believe, is that positive change and progress that is also peaceful is achievable in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's government have always been responsive to its people's demands, apparent by its management of wealth which lead to high rate of development in infrastructure, education, and healthcare. Which is very high by global standards.

IMO what both countries need is for its population to undergo a cultural/religious revolution, because they're what holding our countries' back, and not the regimes, no matter how bad we think they are. vandalism of public property, corruption, and bad work ethics are but few examples.

Same with the women drivers ban. A fact that many don't know and find surprising, is that most of the Saudi population are against women driving (some even threatened harassing them) and those are average normal people, who are not particularly religious. This is one of the examples of a weird custom or law wrongly attributed to the government. As the government is just careful not to stir the pot and rile up the public.

In Saudi Arabia some serious steps had been taken by the government to heighten awareness and encourage studying abroad for its young citizens in order to open their minds and widen their prospective, but we're going to need some time to see some results. As you know, it's not an easy task in a country with +30M population.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Farasan Islands Beach by omar.sa, on Flickr


Farasan Is cruise by Arthur Anker, on Flickr

Masjid Umar bin Khattab r.a by 'asyiqul^huur, on Flickr

@Malik Alashter

We as Arabs/Semites/ME people must always be proud of our ancient and beautiful lands and our ancient civilizations, customs and traditions and we should always work toward unity and cooperation instead of silly infighting but at the same time we should recognize all the many problems and try to find constructive solutions. Despite all the bad publicity of late (last 10 years) we should also look at all the positives and never let any foreigner degrade us.

Also I would love nothing more than for KSA and Iraq to have very good brotherly relations. But most importantly I would love to see peace in the Arab and Muslim world and world as a whole. No, I am no hippie, lol.

Do never believe that a genuine Muslim Saudi Arabian would ever want to hurt fellow Arabs be it in Iraq or Yemen. Besides I am very much against the killings of civilians in Yemen which is a brotherly country and Yemen and the civilians that die there but unfortunately this happens in every war. Anyway we should not go off-topic.

If you believe that Saudi Arabians hate Iraqi Shia Arabs you are very mistaken as that would mean that we would hate ourselves as people of Southern Iraq are our brothers and sisters. I myself have Iraqi relatives and my father has partial Iraqi Arab ancestry. This is very common in KSA and vice versa too even in this era let alone in previous centuries or even in pre-Islamic times due to migrations between both regions (Mesopotamia and Arabia).

@Frosty is another Saudi Arabian member with ancestral ties to Iraq.

 

[azzo]

I don't know why Arab left this greenly land to live in the mere desert????.

Riyadh's location is due to historical significance and strategical position, being in the middle between the east and west coast. Qasim (North of Riyadh) is relatively fertile and has a booming date industry.

Rest of the cities are located on coastal areas, or up in the mountains (areas in question).

 

[Malik Alashter]

Riyadh's location is due to historical significance and strategical position, being in the middle between the east and west coast. Qasim (North of Riyadh) is relatively fertile and has a booming date industry.

Rest of the cities are located on coastal areas, or up in the mountains (areas in question).

I meant by Arab the one lived hundreds ofyears before Islam, not the ones lived after the rule of Islam

We as Arabs/Semites/ME people must always be proud of our ancient and beautiful lands and our ancient civilizations, customs and traditions and we should always work toward unity and cooperation instead of silly infighting but at the same time we should recognize all the many problems and try to find constructive solutions. Despite all the bad publicity of late (last 10 years) we should also look at all the positives and never let any foreigner degrade us.

Also I would love nothing more than for KSA and Iraq to have very good brotherly relations. But most importantly I would love to see peace in the Arab and Muslim world and world as a whole. No, I am no hippie, lol.

Do never believe that a genuine Muslim Saudi Arabian would ever want to hurt fellow Arabs be it in Iraq or Yemen. Besides I am very much against the killings of civilians in Yemen which is a brotherly country and Yemen and the civilians that die there but unfortunately this happens in every war. Anyway we should not go off-topic.

If you believe that Saudi Arabians hate Iraqi Shia Arabs you are very mistaken as that would mean that we would hate ourselves as people of Southern Iraq are our brothers and sisters. I myself have Iraqi relatives and my father has partial Iraqi Arab ancestry. This is very common in KSA and vice versa too even in this era let alone in previous centuries or even in pre-Islamic times due to migrations between both regions (Mesopotamia and Arabia).

Surely I'm proud of our civilization no doubt.

Without the Saudis recognize the new form of government in Iraq and stop meddling in a bad way there is no hope.

We all want what's better for our countries. What I personally believe, is that positive change and progress that is also peaceful is achievable in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia's government have always been responsive to its people's demands, apparent by its management of wealth which lead to high rate of development in infrastructure, education, and healthcare. Which is very high by global standards.

IMO what both countries need is for its population to undergo a cultural/religious revolution, because they're what holding our countries' back, and not the regimes, no matter how bad we think they are. vandalism of public property, corruption, and bad work ethics are but few examples.

Same with the women drivers ban. A fact that many don't know and find surprising, is that most of the Saudi population are against women driving (some even threatened harassing them) and those are average normal people, who are not particularly religious. This is one of the examples of a weird custom or law wrongly attributed to the government. As the government is just careful not to stir the pot and rile up the public.

In Saudi Arabia some serious steps had been taken by the government to heighten awareness and encourage studying abroad for its young citizens in order to open their minds and widen their prospective, but we're going to need some time to see some results. As you know, it's not an easy task in a country with +30M population.

Well in Iraq we don't have those problem you mentioned in Saudi arabia in Iraq women can drive people are not that fanatic our problem before was the regime now the terrorism.

If Iraqis can have a time to breath they will lead the region no doubt.

Yes we don't have the scientific and industry infrustrcture like Iran and Turkey have but what we have the wish to develop our country.

So with the money and the will that we have I see our country future is bright.

All we need to defeat terrorism and cooperate as Iraqis accept what we have and work together to improve it.

 

[Azad-Kashmiri]

The absolute Alcohol ban in particular, even for foreigners or in hotels, is especially problematic. From personal experience, A lot of businessmen and professionals who come to visit Saudi Arabia to hold talks or participate in conventions, cut their planned visit short and escape to Bahrain/UAE to quench their thirst before going back home, and when asked, they said they couldn't take it anymore, as it was a drastic change for them and that they had become really irritable and unsociable.

We are talking about the land of the Prophets as'salaathu wa'salaam alayhum and as'hab radi'Allahu anhum, not some too bit land. This land, it's dirt, sand, air are nazeef and if someone has an issue about drinking ''piss'', please point them to the loo and they can quench their thirst.

 

[azzo]

We are talking about the land of the Prophets as'salaathu wa'salaam alayhum and as'hab radi'Allahu anhum, not some too bit land. This land, it's dirt, sand, air are nazeef and if someone has an issue about drinking ''piss'', please point them to the loo and they can quench their thirst.

I'm not saying the Alcohol ban is bad and should be changed.

I'm saying that the Alcohol ban prevent us from having a normal tourism industry that attracts foreigners. Again, I'm not saying we should allow Alcohol for that reason. Just answering a question about tourism.

 

[Waseem.Khan]

Same look like place karachi have it too .. Ocean tower with same underpas

 

[[Bregs]]

Beautiful country with diverse landscapes, it has beautiful beaches, heritage centuries old villages and sites, well developed cities and deserts are added attractions as well

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Beautiful country with diverse landscapes, it has beautiful beaches, heritage centuries old villages and sites, well developed cities and deserts are added attractions as well

Thank you for the nice words.

Did you know that India's largest trading partner is the Arab world and especially the GCC (mainly)?

That trade and cultural relations between the Arab world (in particular the Arabian Peninsula across the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean) and India have existed for millenniums upon millenniums?

Trade and cultural links between ancient India and ancient Arabia date back to third millennium BC.[1]

1. Heptulla, Nejma. Indo-West Asian relations: the Nehru era. Allied Publishers, 1991. ISBN 9788170233404.

That's 5000 years!

200 million Indians are Muslims (Sunni or Shia) and as we all know Islam originated in Hijaz which is now part of KSA. Sunni, Shia, Sufism etc too obviously.

India is an observer nation of the Arab League.

One of the largest Indian diasporas in the world is located in the GCC if not the largest. Indian remittances from the GCC are the biggest of all Indian remittances by far.

50 Richest Indians in the GCC - ArabianBusiness.com

GCC again India’s top remittance source | The National

Hinduism in Arab states - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Many Indians are of Arab or partial Arab ancestry too. Many Arabs have partial Indian ancestry too which surnames like Al-Hindi confirm.

The 450 million Arabs don't see India or Indians as enemies and our ancient ties and current reality show that. Educated Indians on this forum or elsewhere know this. I hope that our relations will continue to grow especially in terms of scientific and educational cooperation and I hope that the Arab world, in particular KSA and the GCC can serve as a bridge between Pakistan and India.

Also Arabian cuisine, especially Southern Arabian has many similarities with Indian cuisine. Probably more than any other outside of Malaysian, Burmese etc.

I also know that quite a few 1000 Arab students also from KSA study in India.

This video might interest you.

Also take a look at this thread if you want to see other Arab countries. Most Arab countries have been covered to a good extent.

The Arabian Peninsula and Arab world in photos