Journey to the UAE, together with Dubai, India, and 14 different nations comes with extreme penalties for Saudis
- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a country with 35,393,638 inhabitants. To date, 522,108 Saudis had contracted COVID-19 and 8,200 died.
- Saudi Arabia ranks 126th for COVID hardest hit countries in the world and 118th for death rate.
- Neighboring UAE and 15 other countries are on the Saudi Citizenship Red List, which was designed for Saudi citizens, with severe penalties for violations.
There are currently 11,379 Saudi Arabians infected with COVID-19 and 1,406 cases are severe hospital admissions.
Last week, the kingdom registered 8,824 new cases from 8,324 the previous week, up 6%. 85 people died, compared to 95 the week before, an 11% decrease.
20% of Saudi Arabian citizens are fully vaccinated after receiving both vaccinations, and another 33% have received the first doses.
In the neighboring United Arab Emirates, 69% of the population are fully vaccinated and another 8.5% have received the first dose.
By comparison, the United States vaccinated 49% and an additional 7.8% received the first vaccination.
However, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has the United Arab Emirates on its red list, making traveling to the Emirates a criminal offense.
Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Belarus, India and Vietnam are also on the Saudi Red List
Any Saudi citizen caught traveling to any of the Red List countries still faces fines, including a three-year travel ban.
The ministry urged citizens to travel directly or indirectly to the Red List countries where the pandemic is not yet under control and cases of mutated coronavirus strains have increased.
It also urged citizens to exercise caution and stay away from areas where there is instability or the virus is spreading, and take all precautions regardless of their destination.
It also urged citizens to exercise caution and stay away from areas where there is instability or the virus is spreading, and take all precautions regardless of their destination.
Saudi Arabia is currently investing heavily in building its travel and tourism industries and helping the world with billions of dollars in support of the tourism sector.
UNWTO, WTTC, The Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Center all opened offices in the kingdom. When the world of tourism needed help, Saudi Arabia heeded the call and made the kingdom one of the world’s leading companies in the sector.
The travel and tourism industry in the GCC countries has also grown massively in recent years.
The Saudi Chapter of the World Tourism Network launched the Saudi Tourism Group initiative.
