At present, the only kind of visas for foreigners who want to visit the country is largely limited to resident workers and their dependents, business travelers and Muslim pilgrims. This, however, is not going to be the case for long.

A senior Saudi official told CNN “The Kingdom aims to start issuing tourist visas to foreigners next year.”

Prince Sultan Bin Salman who is the head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Natural Heritage said in a broadcast “The targets are people who want to come and literally experience this country, and really the grandness of this country.” He also said “Hopefully in 2018,” when asked about plans for the visas.

The opening of tourist visas will bring in a new stream of revenue for the country. 

The government already is working on several projects that can be of much interest to foreign tourists including the Red Sea tourism project that seeks to develop resorts on a string of islands off the Red Sea coast, the $500 Billion metropolis – NEOM and an entertainment city near Riyadh amongst other things.

So those who wanted to visit Saudi for long but couldn’t, the wait is almost over. And, even if you plan to visit the country before those major projects are completed there is still loads to do in this country. You can check out our travel section for inspiration.

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