Saudi Arabia would be the set off and development setter in constructing a greater and a sustainable tourism world. A ten 12 months previous woman is aware of.
The Diplomatic Quarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was constructed on the sting of Wadi Hanifa within the Seventies as dwelling quarters for diplomats and the embassy space. Right now the “DQ” is sort of a Inexperienced Eden and a distinction to the bustling capital metropolis of Riyadh.
Embassies together with from the USA, EU, Palestine, Iran, Russia, and different hotspots of the world are peacefully situated inside Saudi authorities establishments, together with the Saudi Ministry of Tourism.
The diplomatic quarter reconfirms the significance world peace has in step with sustainable tourism.
Diplomats and authorities officers get collectively within the many stylish espresso locations, eating places, and parks. You may witness joggers from totally different international locations saying “hello” to one another on this quiet and on the similar time very energetic energy machine for Saudi Arabia and the whole world.
I stayed 6 nights on the Marriott Diplomatic Quarters final week. Each morning I went for my morning espresso in one of many two Starbucks subsequent to the resort.
I keep in mind Thursday morning ingesting the all time scorching chocolate at Cafe Bateel, a stylish espresso place subsequent to my Marriott Resort. A Saudi household was sitting on the desk subsequent to me. Their small 10 years previous bought up and walked over to me with an enormous smile providing me a big lower of her chocolate.
There was nothing staged, nothing deliberate, and she or he didn’t know who I used to be. I didn’t know who she was, nor did I ever see her household earlier than.
Such a heart-warming expertise is hospitality in its most interesting pure stage. Fortunately such experiences aren’t remoted to Cafe Bateel, they’re all over the place in Riyadh.
After being closed for therefore a few years, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is opening its doorways to guests.
Tourism in Saudi Arabia is refined and futuristic, however on the similar time in its toddler stage. It’s in want of sustainable positioning by consultants, so one other little woman in 10 or 20 years may even share her chocolate with a customer.
It exhibits the strategy by HE Ahmed bin Aqil al-Khateeb, the Saudi Ministry of Tourism to make the expansion of tourism sustainable, and giving again to the world on the similar time is an efficient manner ahead.
HE Gloria Guevara, a former Mexican tourism minister, and former CEO of the World Journey and Tourism Council (WTTC) is now the Saudi minister’s advisor. She continues to be seen as essentially the most highly effective lady in international tourism. She is a champion of sustainable tourism and will get it.
Her whole division is working day-after-day till late into the night time to place the Saudi Imaginative and prescient 2030 in a manner tourism, tradition, and progress aren’t clashing.
With billions of {dollars} invested, how would Saudi Arabian tourism look in 2030?
Holding cultural values is essential, and for Saudi Arabia, it’s an opportunity to be taught from the errors of different locations. The Kingdom has the worldwide consultants, the imaginative and prescient, and the cash to do that. If it means vacationers must take pleasure in their Lengthy Island Ice Tea after leaving the Kingdom, this ought to be okay, and almost certainly higher.
Within the diplomatic quarter in Riyadh, diplomats from totally different embassies, and authorities officers, officers from totally different departments all come collectively to take pleasure in tea, espresso, or a scrumptious dessert collectively. They could not all the time share the identical desk, however this little woman demonstrated how simple it was to stand up and share a smile and a chunk of chocolate.
Diplomacy with a coronary heart
The world has to be taught from. That is peace by means of sustainable tourism at its most interesting.
