The fate of Al-Ula changed when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made it a flagship project of his "Vision 2030" plan. A fatwa forbade believers from visiting the city, which was cursed by the Prophet Mohammed. Few people in the kingdom, still closed to foreign visitors, walked the sandstone formations of Madain Saleh and the city of Hegra, listed as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2008. The majority of its 50,000 residents made their living by growing dates, lemons and oranges, and by raising camels and sheep. For a long time, their city remained the sleepy capital of an agricultural province the size of Belgium, offering few prospects.
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Saleswomen, hostesses, guides, drivers or receptionists: like Hayat, hundreds of young people in Al-Ula have gone into the tourism business. A fatwa forbade the believers from going there I like the contact with people from all countries," she added. "It gives me professional experience while waiting to find a job in my field. Five days a week, at the end of the day, she greets customers in the store located on the main artery of the Al-Djadida district. Hayat took the sales job at the beginning of the high season in November after earning her master's degree in computer science.
And it creates a lot of jobs," said the 24-year-old Saudi woman, her eyes rimmed with kohl, an ancient eye cosmetic used in Saudi Arabia. We don't have to go to Medina or Jeddah to enjoy the cafes and stores. "It's an opportunity for us to have all these tourists in Al-Ula.
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With a discreet gesture, she lifted her black niqab, the full veil that all women wear in the kingdom, to sip her iced coffee bought at Starbucks.
Sitting on the terrace of the jewelry store where she works, Hayat chatted with other saleswomen. Soon, Saudi and foreign tourists would flock to the historic center after a day spent in the canyons of this city in northern Saudi Arabia, which houses Nabatean tombs dating back more than two millennia. LETTER FROM AL-ULA A view shows the Maraya concert hall in the ruins of Al-Ula, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northwestern Saudi Arabia, on February 19, 2023. The destiny of this long-forbidden city, rich in World Heritage Sites, changed when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made it a flagship project of his 'Vision 2030' plan.īy Hélène Sallon (Beirut (Lebanon) correspondent) Published on April 8, 2023, at 12:47 am (Paris), updated on April 8, 2023, at 8:50 am Saudi Arabia's cursed city of Al-Ula is being transformed into a luxury tourist destination
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