Saudi Arabia allows foreign men and women to share hotel rooms

By Stephen Kalin

 

FILE PHOTO: A Saudi man walks past renovated buildings at the historic city of Diriyah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, September 27, 2019. REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri

 

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is allowing foreign men and women to rent hotel rooms together without proving they are related, after the conservative Muslim kingdom launched a new tourist visa regime to attract holidaymakers.

 

Women, including Saudis, are also permitted to rent hotel rooms by themselves, in a break with previous regulations.

 

The moves appear to pave the way for unaccompanied women to travel more easily and for unmarried foreign visitors to stay together in the Gulf state, where sex outside of marriage is banned.

 

The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage confirmed a report on Friday by Arabic-language newspaper Okaz, adding: "All Saudi nationals are asked to show family ID or proof of relationship on checking into hotels. This is not required of foreign tourists. All women, including Saudis, can book and stay in hotels alone, providing ID on check-in."

Saudi Arabia threw open its doors last week to foreign tourists from 49 countries as it tries to grow that sector and diversify its economy away from oil exports. As part of the move, it decreed that visitors need not wear all-covering black robes but should dress modestly. Alcohol remains banned.

 

Saudi Arabia has been relatively closed off for decades and until recently unrelated men and women, including foreigners, could be severely punished for mixing in public. Strict social codes have been relaxed in recent years and previously banned entertainment has flourished.

 

But an influx of tourists -- the authorities are aiming for 100 million annual visits by 2030 -- could push boundaries further and risks conservative backlash.

 

The kingdom ended a heavily criticised ban on women driving last year and in August granted women new rights to travel abroad, chipping away at a guardianship system that assigns each woman a male relative to approve important decisions throughout their lives.

 

The changes are part of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ambitious economic and social reform agenda. His plans have received international praise, but his image has been tarnished by the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a crackdown on dissent, and a devastating war in Yemen.

 

Until now, foreigners travelling to Saudi Arabia have been largely restricted to resident workers and their dependents, business travellers, and Muslim pilgrims who are given special visas to visit the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

 

(Reporting by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-06

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8 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

unmarried foreign visitors to stay together in the Gulf state, where sex outside of marriage is banned.

 

So you can share a room room but no having boom boom ????

Edited October 6, 20196 yr by cornishcarlos

That's all fine and dandy, but although the government permits it, the people that live there may not feel the same.

Leaving your hotel room with your partner, I would be worried about some extremist taking the law into their own hands. ????

So in what century can foreign man stay with local lady?

12 minutes ago, pegman said:

So in what century can foreign man stay with local lady?

Check with your great grand kids. lol

12 minutes ago, pegman said:

So in what century can foreign man stay with local lady?

During Roman times it was normal...

Why would you go there as a tourist?

Wonder if you could get a beer as a last request before beheading ? 

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

Why would you go there as a tourist?

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49424036

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49850056?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cwlw3xz0zl4t/saudi-arabia&link_location=live-reporting-story

 

 

I think the country (Saudi Arabia) should place a bit more trust in people. Just because two people (man and woman) are in the same room it doesn't necessarily mean that they might have sexual relations. On the other hand,,..

 

Alcohol is another thing. I've had a bottle of Leo in the fridge for over 3 months. It tests my strength of character. Sometimes, when I'm at the fridge, I open the door and just look at the bottle. I say; "you want me to grab you and open you up, and have my way with you, but I'm not going to". That way the bottle of beer is all the more desirable. Of course, one day i will fancy a beer and drink it.

 

I have not used my m/c for ages. I prefer my mountain bike. People in Saudi must get to ride their bikes more often. The exertion will take their minds away from things that the state says are undesirable.

47 minutes ago, car720 said:

Do these people ever intend to join the 21st century?  I've always said that if we didn't use oil anymore then they would all go back to living in tents.

Maybe they have looked at the 21st century and its just one big cluster <deleted>. So they stay with what they know.

16 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Sometimes, when I'm at the fridge, I open the door and just look at the bottle. I say; "you want me to grab you and open you up, and have my way with you, but I'm not going to".

Talking to a bottle? You need to get out more.

If they continue like this soon Saudi arabia will a lot more more loose than Thailand i think, i wonder if the have TM 30 there....

Edited October 6, 20196 yr by ezzra

53 minutes ago, owl sees all said:

Sometimes, when I'm at the fridge, I open the door and just look at the bottle. I say; "you want me to grab you and open you up, and have my way with you, but I'm not going to". That way the bottle of beer is all the more desirable. Of course, one day i will fancy a beer and drink it.

I have the same thoughts about women when passing a bar and looking at the non-buffaloes - least till the wife nudges me in the ribs

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Saudi Arabia is allowing foreign men and women to rent hotel rooms together without proving they are related,

They don't have to prove they are related , but is it still against the law if they are found not to be related ?

Thus taking the onus off the hotel manager/owner if a law has been broken.

Edited October 6, 20196 yr by NE1

But no mention of gay men. They will, I suspect, be allowed to sleep on the hotel roof and get thrown off when they check out in the morning.

42 minutes ago, grumbleweed said:

Talking to a bottle? You need to get out more.

Self control, self control, grumbleweed.

 

Can't give in to every temptation. Could lead to a bohemian outlook on life.

4 hours ago, pegman said:

So in what century can foreign man stay with local lady?

Given that the entire society is geared around covering them up, they must be pretty hideous under there.

 

 

Edited October 6, 20196 yr by donnacha

Soon Riyadh will be the new Pattaya....

1 hour ago, donnacha said:

Given that the entire society is geared around covering them up, they must be pretty hideous under there.

 

 

On the contrary donnacha. 'Under there' is a secret feast of fat, sweat and hair.

1 hour ago, donnacha said:

Given that the entire society is geared around covering them up, they must be pretty hideous under there.

 

 

Try This one.............

4 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Why would you go there as a tourist?

Because Pattaya's dead.

2 hours ago, Dexlowe said:

But no mention of gay men. They will, I suspect, be allowed to sleep on the hotel roof and get thrown off when they check out in the morning.

No. Wrong sh!thole. That's Iraq.

Sounds like a great place for doing  AA meetings.

Its all tied to money, they've got this mega-plan, setting up a tourist, high-tech enclave by the coast of the Red Sea.

 

Bet its a planned, timed campaign of good news, leading up to the real launch of it all.

 

...and deep down the real panic is about oil, what will feed & keep the citizens in place once that astronomical income starts fading? 

5 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Why would you go there as a tourist?

Apart from the historical/archaeological sites and other areas already linked to, one of the main attractions would have to be the Red Sea. According to Jacques Cousteau (who knew a little bit about the subject) the best diving in the world is in the Red Sea. The beauty of the coral reefs and the abundant marine life is apparently unrivalled. Some of the best (and most unspoilt) sites are presumably those on the Saudi side, precisely because of the lack of previous tourism.

 

One of my best friends, a qualified scuba diving instructor who used to work in Saudi Arabia, echoes Cousteau's views on the diving there.

Edited October 6, 20196 yr by GroveHillWanderer

Would make a good spot for tourist resorts along the Red sea, didn't he have a meeting with Richard Branson a couple of years ago?

13 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Would make a good spot for tourist resorts along the Red sea, didn't he have a meeting with Richard Branson a couple of years ago?

I think a lot of them canceled everything after Kashogi. 

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

If they continue like this soon Saudi arabia will a lot more more loose than Thailand i think, i wonder if the have TM 30 there....

no, they haven't.
If you have a resident visa you get an ID card and free to roam the country as an Europian no further registration required. But if you are an indian, nepalese, philipino, pakistani, etc. labour your employer will take away your passport. Then you are not more then a slave and you have no rights at all.

5 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-49424036

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49850056?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cwlw3xz0zl4t/saudi-arabia&link_location=live-reporting-story

 

 

you must be a hard-core tourist who has seen already everything on this planet to visit this country other then this you are just pain stupid.
I was stupid enough (or call it greedy) to signed a contract for 3 years to work there. With hindsight, I call this now my jail sentence and it was longer as some kiddy fiddler or murderer get in Germany. Luckly most of the time I was staying in Dammam and had the chance to cross into Bahrain like every other Saudi in this area to have a drink and kill the time.
Apart from that nothing to see and on your only free day (Friday) you could not visit any attraction, only for families on this day.
The worst place for me was Dshaizan where we have build some parts of an oil-chrecker plant to get away from the Persian Golf but unfortunatly its very close to Yemen and sometimes you could see Missile aiming to Riyadh apart from that it is a military zone, just like Thailand. Mecca is forbidden for heathen and you are not allow to enter the red circle. Also they have nice long clean beaches, very beautiful, but you are not permited to visit, learned it the hard way, police turned up and luckily I could play the stupid white foreigner to escape an arrest.
No thank you, in my lifetime I will not visit this country as a tourist and everyone who ask me I will advise to stay away from this sh!thole.