As you may well know already, Saudi Arabia opened its borders to tourists for the first time on the 28th of September 2019 by allowing up to 49 countries apply for E-visa and as usual Nigeria wasn’t among the list of qualifying countries.
However, there’s now Good news for green passport holders with a valid Schengen visa, as you can now qualify for e-visa application.
This means your Schengen visa can get you into the 26 schengen states and an additional 22 other countries visa free, visa on arrival or e-visa (Mexico, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Bonaire, Aruba, Sint Maarten, Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Kosovo, Rep of Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey Qatar, and now Saudi Arabia).
The new Tourist e-Visa allows the holder multiple entries into the kingdom and is valid for one year. The maximum duration that one can stay in Saudi Arabia consecutively is 90 days, but no more than 180 days overall.
You can apply for the visa online and pay a fee of about $120, including health insurance. You only need your passport and visa.
Prior to 28th Sep, entry was restricted to Muslim pilgrims wishing to visit the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, business travelers, and resident workers and their dependents. The visa was launched in an effort to boost the tourism sector and create new jobs for Saudi Arabian citizens as part of the new reforms taken by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN SAUDI ARABIA
RED SEA
Saudi Arabia has 1,760km of nearly untouched coastline along the Red Sea that’s ripe for development (the same strip shared by Sharm el sheik, Eilat and Aqaba), and most importantly Saudi Arabia has the largest share of the red sea.
PHENOMENAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND DESERT
The archaeological site of Madain Saleh, built by the same ancient civilisation that carved Petra out of Jordan’s (including it’s tombs).
The ancient biblical city of Dedan
Rub’ al Khali (The Empty Quarter)
AN ENTERTAINMENT CITY THE SIZE OF LAS VEGAS
With a Six Flags theme park, 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.
Another good news for us tourists, not all strict conservative rules are applicable to us, e.g foreign women do not have to wear abaya, but you must still be respectful and modest with your dressing.
Sadly alcohol is not legal in the country, so beer, red and bourbon lovers, please drink enough alcohol to last you the duration of your stay in Saudi Arabia as it is banned in the country.
In summary to all, you should only go to Saudi Arabia , if it’s on your bucketlist, the Kingdom still has it’s controversies even though they are on the brink of transformation.
We can’t wait to show you the beauty of Saudi Arabia!!!!!!
