Saudi Arabia’s New Tourism Frontier Explained

An opaque kingdom wants to become transparent. Saudi Arabia is both reviled and revered — hated by many for checking all the boxes on human rights abuses and worshipped by Muslims as custodian of their holiest places. The opening of a new destination is almost always greeted as a triumph. Not this one, where there’s been an outpouring of skepticism and scorn over the duality of its aims. Scoffers see that, beneath the goals of reducing oil dependence and mirroring neighboring Dubai as a tourism hub, lurk motives such as ridding the ghost of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi that still haunts after a year and presenting a more benign image of itself to the world. Most recent measures include allowing unmarried foreign couples to rent hotel rooms and loosening strict dress code for female travelers. In business, however, the practicalities of learning about opportunities in a new frontier duck uncomfortable concerns. Some 400 government and business leaders, including 5