Saudi Arabia visas: Everything you need to know about visiting as a tourist

From 27 September, it’s easier than ever for Brits to visit the Kingdom

(Getty/iStock)

For the first time, Saudi Arabia is opening its doors to casual tourists and independent travellers by launching an e-visa scheme for 49 countries on Friday 27 September. Long one of the world’s most challenging places to visit for non-Muslims, the country is now actively trying to attract visitors to discover this once-reclusive kingdom.

Tourist visas for Saudi Arabia were issued on a trial basis less than a year ago, but applicants were tied into attending (or at least purchasing tickets for) the Formula E Prix in December 2018 or the Winter at Tantora festival that ran from December 2018 to February 2019.

Although Saudi Arabia brought in 16 million foreign travellers in 2017, nearly all of them were on religious pilgrimage to Mecca or visited for business, skipping over most of the country’s tourist attractions. Tourism is a key component of the country’s long-term roadmap, called Vision 2030, which aims to bring in 30 million visitors annually by 2030 – that would put Saudi Arabia on par with Greece and Japan. The plan to launch the new visas has been in the works since 2016 and is part of a bigger push to change the country’s image. It follows the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which happened a year ago next week.

Here’s everything you need to know about visiting.

How much does a visa cost?

Visas can be applied for online and will cost SAR440 (about £95). Visas can be applied for online before the trip or on arrival using electronic kiosks before immigration, and the government says the applications will be processed in less than 30 minutes.

Which countries are eligible for a visa?

Citizens from the UK, countries in the Schengen Zone, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, China and Japan can apply.

How long are visas valid for?

Tourist visas are valid for a year and allow multiple entries, with a maximum stay of three months per visit. The holy cities of Mecca and Medina will remain off limits to non-Muslims.

What is there to see in Saudi Arabia?

At nine times the size of the UK, Saudi Arabia has 1,760km of nearly untouched coastline along the Red Sea that’s ripe for development – standing in stark contrast with the resorts of Egypt, Israel and Jordan that have been peppered along the waterfront for decades – and could make an unlikely winter sun destination for Brits. Hundreds of billions of dollars are already earmarked for creating luxury beach resorts on 50 semi-autonomous islands, intriguingly expected to be exempt from the Kingdom’s usual rules, and for developing an eco-powered smart district called Neom that will extend across the border into Jordan and Egypt.

The archaeological site of Madain Saleh, built by the same ancient civilisation that carved Petra out of Jordan’s sandstone cliffs to the north, promises to be the Kingdom’s biggest historical draw, though it’s not scheduled to open to the public until October 2020, nearly a year after the visa launch.

A desert retreat designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel is expected to open in 2023. Near the capital of Riyadh, an entertainment city the size of Las Vegas, complete with a Six Flags theme park, is in the works, and the historical port town of Jeddah has a blossoming arts scene and an architecturally significant historical core that’s worth exploring.

Will Saudi’s conservative rules apply to tourists?

The pace of cultural change has been both supersonic and slow in Saudi Arabia: women were banned from driving until June 2018, and cinemas recently opened for the first time in 35 years. The draconian male guardianship system that has dictated the lives of Saudi women is finally being chipped away, and as of last month, Saudi women can get a passport and travel abroad without a male guardian’s permission. However, Saudi women are still unable to marry, divorce or take a job without permission from a male guardian.

And though Saudi Arabia’s ultra-conservative rules are starting to be relaxed, alcohol is still banned country wide, and women should dress even more modestly than in other Middle Eastern countries. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said in 2018 that a more tolerant approach should be taken to women’s dress, but foreign women will likely still feel most comfortable wearing an abaya, a full-length cloak with long sleeves that goes down to the floor that most Saudi women wear, though a few have stopped wearing it in protest.

The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises travellers to wear an abaya and says that men should not wear shorts in public, even though summer temperatures can soar to 50C.

Gender segregation is still enforced in many restaurants, which have separate sections for “singles” and “families”.

What about the Kingdom’s controversies?

How quickly tourists will add Saudi Arabia to their bucket lists is yet to be seen. The controversial Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the driving force behind the Kingdom’s reforms and tourism blueprint, is widely accused of orchestrating the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, prompting international outrage and souring international investors, such as Sir Richard Branson.

Saudi Arabia continues to wage an increasingly unpopular war in neighbouring Yemen, which has killed tens of thousands of civilians and has been labelled by the UN as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The Kingdom also arrested many human rights activists, including those who campaigned for the right for women to drive.

So should I go?

“Potential” is the word on the tip of everyone’s tongue here: no other country in modern times has been so closed off and then opened itself to the world quite like this. Saudi Arabia is on the brink of total transformation, and though it has much to do to improve its image abroad, perhaps for international visitors, this land and its people will finally be able to speak for themselves.