Didn't they just start to issue tourist visas last year?

I have to say, from flying across in a research airplane that was not allowed to measure (so no work for the scientific crew = lots of time to move from window to window and observe) - it is a colourful country and very beautiful from above. There is black and white, and red and yellow, and the many patterns in the sand and the mountains are interesting. I didn't know they had (extinct) volcanoes either. If I wasn't a woman I might have even considered going.

Don't forget Saudi-Arabia is controlling Mekka, the holiest site of Islam which every Muslim with the means and ability to do so must visit once as a pilgrim in his/her life time. There are something about 1.5 to 1.8 billion Muslim people on this planet, that definitely is a base to build a tourism industry on!

That was my first reaction too, comparing it to somewhere like Doha or Dubai. But maybe religious tourism? [0]

[0] https://qz.com/1684679/the-hajj-pilgrimage-to-saudi-arabias-...

Ever heard of Mada’in Saleh? Saudi Aramco magazine actually used to have a number of articles on those sorts of sites. Plus the Red Sea beaches and diving used to be cool before House of Saud came to power. Just think of Jeddah as Mecca and Riyadh’s slightly stoned cousins.

Dubai is definitely a tourist destination for a small number of hyper-wealthy people. The tourists get to be in the part of the bubble that serves alcohol.