I think I must start with saying that I did not know much about Saudi Arabia before coming here, also except Al Ula and Riyadh I didn’t have much expectations or even knowledge at all.

But now after spending the past week here with Gateway KSA I can honestly say that I still can’t wrap my head around it about what we were fortunate to experience. As I study tourism my main interest is in Al Ula and the old town of Jeddah because I can see them becoming major tourist attractions in the future. 

Let’s first start with my experiences in Riyadh, here we visited the Turaif which is a historic district located in the north-west of Riyadh, where we were able to get a tour through the part of the district which was very interesting and I think it is important to note that this place is not open to the public yet. My favourite event in Riyadh was the dinner at the home of Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud as it gave me a glimpse of the Saudi hospitality and generosity at once which was great, we were able to openly ask any question we had on our minds even controversial questions and we always got an answer and don’t forget the delicious meal we shared. If Saudi Arabia will be only half as hospitableness and generous to the future tourists then we were able to experience, then I think the development of tourism in Saudi Arabia will be a success.

Furthermore after two amazing days in Riyadh we flew to Al Ula to visit the wonderful sights of Madain Saleh, which in my opinion will play a major role in the future development of tourism in the kingdom as part of the Vision 2030, I could see that Madain Saleh becomes as popular as Petra in Jordan which attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists per year, maybe even surpasses these numbers at some point because of its significance and beauty. While we were staying in Al Ula I was able to experience first hand the development of a future tourism destination which is very valuable insight for me, also it is important to note that the sights of Madain Saleh are not accessible for the public yet so visiting these sites was only made it possible by Gateway KSA which was an incredible experience and organised so well.

For me that was definitely the favourite part of the whole trip as I was able to see and experience so much only a few people have so far and I think through that I learned a lot for the future and it will definitely help me to pursue my degree in tourism.
After Al Ula we traveled to Jeddah together and visited the Effat and KAUST university, also we spend a wonderful day at a beach resort in Jeddah and let me just say I have never seen such blue water as I have here in the Red Sea but most interesting for me was the walking tour through the old town in Jeddah because the buildings are so beautiful and have such a rich history, in the future if the buildings are properly restored I think Jeddah has everything it needs to become a major tourist destination. To Conclude this, overall my experience in Saudi Arabia was amazing I learned so much about a country which is mostly portrait negatively in the western media and I even consider if the possibility arises to do my mandatory internship here next year as I think it would be very interesting to see how it all begins when Saudi Arabia finally starts issuing tourists visas, I for my part have at least a dozen friends who would probably travel to Saudi Arabia immediately as soon as that is possible.

*******************************

Hi! My name is Peter I’m 25 years old and study tourism at the University of Stralsund prior of starting my degree in tourism I traveled to over 50 countries, finished a degree as a cheesemaker, let’s just say my life took a lot of unexpected turns.

Honestly I would say I have been to some of the most unusual places in the world like Turkmenistan and North Korea, as I continued traveling my interest in Saudi Arabia grew and the fact that I knew very little to nothing about the kingdom and that it is nearly impossible to get a tourist visa just contributed to my wish to travel to Saudi Arabia as well as the development for the future tourism in the country. So as soon as I heard about the Gateway KSA program I applied for it as I think it is a wonderful way to experience the country and learn about its culture all with the background in mind that Saudi Arabia probably will issue tourist Visas in 2020. My experience with Gateway KSA was beyond amazing I learned so much for my future and saw a lot of incredible places and I hope to be back in 2020 for my mandatory internship as part of my course to see the future development of tourism in the kingdom.