Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi

When Prince Sultan Bin Salman took over the newly established Presidency of the Saudi Commission of Tourism and Antiquities in 2000, we lacked the basics such as tourist guiding and ecotourism. So it was a top priority for the Commission in its early years to establish professional and scientific grounds for these concepts.



In recent years, an elite group of Saudis were trained by experts from the World Federation of Tour Guides Association. They, in turn, are now giving training in tourist guiding to qualified fellow Saudis. 



The goal is to have licensed tour guides lead groups and delegations during their visits to Saudi cities and rural areas and show them historical, cultural and natural attractions, as well as evidence of our progress and development, in a professional manner. The guides are encouraged to set up tourist agencies and sign contracts with Haj and Umrah agencies and tour operators, as well as companies in the public and private sectors, keen to introduce their visitors and foreign employees to our culture and society.



Prince Sultan also cared for ecotourism and encouraged rural and farm inns. Those are housing units in agricultural, natural and historical areas. The Tourism Commission supports personal initiatives in this area and provides pioneers with expertise in management and marketing, plus financial help and soft loans.



Recently, I was treated with two enlightening experiences in the fields of tour guiding and ecotourism. As a licensed trainer, I was honored to coach the first tour guides in Jazan region (its capital called Jizan, with an "I"), and was invited to visit the first eco-resort there, "the Rawabi Heritage Village of Abu Arish."



In the first experience, I was delighted to feel the flow of enthusiasm of seventeen trainees who made up the carefully selected group in the tour guiding course provided for free by the Tourism Commission. I noted with my co-trainer Khaled Al-Qahtani, and our assistant Freeh Al-Shammari, of Alrowad Group, that the people of Jazan enjoy the natural and most important gifts of tour guiding — generosity, hospitality, and the eagerness to help, tell and please. This made our mission much easier. All they needed to know was to learn the techniques of preparation and organization, presentation and guidance — the rest were already built-in.



In the second experience, Sheikh Mohammed Jabali surprised me that he was not just a farmer and owner of a heritage village, but also has a long list of agricultural initiatives. Sheikh Jabali, a graduate of the American Institute of Agriculture in Jordan (1968) managed during his years of service at the Agricultural Research Center in Assir region, and later, as an independent farmer, to cultivate, for the first time, rice, mango and papaya in the rich but virgin Southern lands. Today, he is experimenting with cotton.



With the support of the Governorship of Jazan and the Tourism Commission, he is now completing the first integrated tourist village in the region, containing a farm inn, a heritage market, and an open theater modeled after the famous Nabataean Jerash theater in Jordan.



I also met with the Executive Director of the Tourism Commission branch in Jazan, Rustam Al-Kubaisi, and was delighted to hear and see the achievements, plans and visions of future projects. The Commission, he explained, cooperates with fifteen government agencies, members of the Tourism Development Council, headed by Jazan Governor, Prince Mohammed Bin Nasser Bin Abdulaziz.



Their projects include a new corniche, public parks, heritage villages and museums. The Commission also supports and encourages individual initiatives, such as Al-Jabali project. Al-Kubaisi envisions a huge leap in tourism after the opening of the international terminal in King Abdullah Airport by the end of this year with five international airlines, and the anticipated arrival of tens of thousands of visitors from the Gulf region in the coming winter season alone.



My recent visit to Jazan witnessed the evolution and development of a promising phase in tourism. I hope the private sector keeps pace with the public sector in investment and development, especially in the field of hospitality and entertainment.



Tourism, ladies and gentleman, is our white gold, which, if well explored and exploited, could provide us with unending source of income and jobs. It does help that our country is rich in untapped natural resources and unlimited investment opportunities.



While we did make quite an achievement in religious tourism, with millions of pilgrims visiting throughout the year, this mainly benefits three cities, Makkah, Madina and Jeddah. If we open up to other kinds of tourism, such as the eco and cultural tourism, the benefit would spread to smaller cities and towns with plenty of work and business opportunities to go around, reaching all segments of society.