Saudi Arabia will be the set off and pattern setter in constructing a greater and a sustainable tourism world. A ten 12 months previous lady is aware of.
The Diplomatic Quarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was constructed on the sting of Wadi Hanifa within the Nineteen Seventies as residing quarters for diplomats and the embassy space. Today the “DQ” is sort of a Green 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 fashionable espresso locations, eating places, and parks. You can witness joggers from completely different international locations saying “hi” to one another on this quiet and on the identical time very lively energy machine for Saudi Arabia and the complete world.
I stayed 6 nights on the Marriott Diplomatic Quarters final week. Every 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 sizzling chocolate at Cafe Bateel, a classy espresso place subsequent to my Marriott Hotel. A Saudi household was sitting on the desk subsequent to me. Their small 10 years previous received up and walked over to me with a giant smile providing me a big minimize of her chocolate.
There was nothing staged, nothing deliberate, and he or she didn’t know who I used to be. I didn’t know who she was, nor did I ever see her household earlier than.
This sort of heart-warming expertise is hospitality in its most interesting pure stage. Luckily such experiences aren’t remoted to Cafe Bateel, they’re in all places in Riyadh.
After being closed for thus a few years, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is opening its doorways to guests.
Tourism in Saudi Arabia is subtle and futuristic, however on the identical time in its toddler stage. It’s in want of sustainable positioning by consultants, so one other little lady in 10 or 20 years can even share her chocolate with a customer.
It reveals the method 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 identical time is an efficient approach ahead.
HE Gloria Guevara, a former Mexican tourism minister, and former CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) is now the Saudi minister’s advisor. She continues to be seen as probably the most highly effective girl in world tourism. She is a champion of sustainable tourism and will get it.
Her complete division is working day by day till late into the night time to place the Saudi Vision 2030 in a approach tourism, tradition, and progress aren’t clashing.
With billions of {dollars} invested, how would Saudi Arabian tourism look in 2030?
Keeping cultural values is necessary, and for Saudi Arabia, it’s an opportunity to study 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 Long Island Ice Tea after leaving the Kingdom, this ought to be okay, and most probably higher.
In the diplomatic quarter in Riyadh, diplomats from completely different embassies, and authorities officers, officers from completely different departments all come collectively to take pleasure in tea, espresso, or a scrumptious dessert collectively. They could not at all times share the identical desk, however this little lady demonstrated how simple it was to rise up and share a smile and a bit of chocolate.
Diplomacy with a coronary heart
The world has to study from. This is peace by means of sustainable tourism at its most interesting.
