Before I visited the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and took part in the cultural immersion programme organised by Gateway KSA, I was not fully aware of the details of the Saudi Vision 2030. For the most part, I thought it was simply a PR trick to lure in Western investors and improve the public image of Saudi Arabia. I was not alone with this misconception as the media and human rights NGO’s such as Amnesty have also been critical of its purposes. During my visit in KSA I go to experience some of the many changes that have already been implemented in the society, with much more coming in the near future. Many have heard of giving the Saudi women the right to drive, but there is more, for example abolishing the guardianship system, which gives women the right to travel independently, decreasing the authority of religious police, and women entering the workforce. In addition, the Saudi government is running multiple privatising programmes in order to boost the private sector. This is just to mention a few of these changes that have already paved the way for more modern Saudi Arabia since 2017.

Despite these changes, the general image people in Europe have of Saudi Arabia stays in the pre-Saudi Vision days when the Muslim Brotherhood had a larger impact on the way Islam was interpreted in the country. It can be said that thanks to lack of objective media coverage and tourist experiences from the country the impact of Saudi Vision 2030 has not reached the rest of the world. To change that, Saudi Arabia is going to introduce a tourist visa at the end of September which will hopefully open the doors for growing tourism and lighten up the dark image of Saudi Arabia as some backward and overly religious countries stuck in the Middle Ages. When people will be able to experience Saudi Arabia through their own eyes, I believe some misconceptions will be broken down.

However, we must stay realistic and not let important things be brushed under the carpet. One example of this is the disappearing and assassination of the Saudi journalist named Jamal Khashoggi in the Istanbul embassy, and imprisonments of other journalists and activists. In addition to improving the everyday life of Saudi people, the government has to provide growing transparency if they wish to gain credibility in the eyes of other countries, public eye and human rights activists. 

Overall, it can be concluded based on my own experiences and interactions with Saudi people during my visit that KSA is certainly heading in the right direction. Still, it’s impossible to predict where the country will be in five or ten years and if a holistic and multilateral modernisation has successfully taken place while maintaining the core values of Islam. We shall see the results in the future, and it can be assumed that it will be interesting to follow this process.

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Studies: Second year BA in international relations (King’s College London).

Purpose for the trip: To learn more about KSA and the heart of Arabic culture in order to understand the other side of the story, not just the Western narrative. Also, to experience the changes vision 2030 has brought in first-hand to see if there is a real difference between old and new Saudi Arabia. Overall my purpose for the visit was to break down stereotypes that the media keeps building up.