Saudi Arabia culture

A culture hidden from view

For a long time, Saudi Arabia and its culture was hidden from view. Riyadh fully opened to foreigners in the 1970s, but recreational tourism only started fifty years later. It is forbidden for non-Muslims to enter mosques, or the city of Mecca, and the city of Medina only opened to non-Muslim tourism in 2023.

The birthplace of Islam practises strict gender segregation, so that public and family life – considered the spheres of men and women – are hidden from each other. Though gender segregation has slowly begun to relax over the last few years, Saudi people continue to value privacy. They are marvellous hosts, but at home they entertain in their majlis – dedicated spaces for guests, whilst family life plays out in more private areas.

High culture in the country is hard to parse for people from outside the Arabic world. There is a lack of figurative art since traditionally Sunni Islam forbids depicting people. Since the Saudi government swung towards conservatism in the 1970s, the country has spent decades without a film industry; cinemas only reopened in 2018. Strict laws against written dissent mean that there are very few Saudi works of literature; in 2019, 90 percent of literature was religious. Singing and dancing in public were banned until the 2010s; concerts were permitted in 2017.

Saudi Arabia’s attitude to built heritage was, for a long time, anti-preservation. The Islamic Age started in Arabia in 622AD, but little architecture survives from that time. Saudi Wahhabism doctrine (a strict Sunni Islam movement) emphasises avoiding idolatry: in practice this means most historic religious sites have been destroyed as a distraction from god. Very few structures dating back to the time of Muhammad remain in Mecca, his birthplace, and few buildings in Riyadh are over 40 years old. Settled culture is a relatively new phenomenon: in the 1950s half the population were still living nomadically. Pre-Islamic culture – such as the prehistoric rock art in the Ha’il region, and the impressive structures left behind by the Nabateans who ruled most of northwest Arabia in ancient times, has historically been under-valued and under-visited.

“It’s like a different country”

Nadeem Siddiqui is marketing manager at Surprise Tourism LLC, our partner for Saudi Arabia holidays. He visited Saudi Arabia in 2015 and returned just a few years later. What he found on that second visit was a country that was unrecognisable. “I saw a huge difference – before it was strict, with many restrictions. Now it’s like a different country.”

A lot of the change is about access: “When I went a second time [after 2019] there were lots of things that I couldn’t have done in 2015,” notes Nadeem. With tourism welcomed, visitors find it easier to find places to stay and ways to get around. It’s also a reflection of how strict Saudi Arabia used to be, compared to now; there are no longer religious police enforcing Sharia law on the streets.

In 2016 Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud announced Saudi Vision 2030 – which aimed, in part, to divest Saudi from its heavy dependence on its oil wealth. Part of this was to bring in tourism income. When Saudi Arabia opened to tourism, it also started to slough off some rules that had made the country so intimidating to tourists (and investors) – and especially to particular groups, such as female tourists and non-Muslim tourists.

Gone are the days when crowds were a sea of women each wearing a black abaya and men each wearing a white thwab as more relaxed western dress rules gain some acceptance. Whilst many women still choose to wear the abaya over the top of their clothes, many do not, and travellers themselves can wear western clothes; Saudi Arabia’s first women-only trampoline park opened in 2018. For safety reasons, abayas aren’t allowed inside.

“Tourism is going very well over there,” says Nadeem. “They have opened all their culture and showcase it all. They are building many things for tourists. The people are very friendly with the tourists; they can easily communicate with them.” Seeing Saudi Arabia’s culture has become frictionless. “You get the sense that everything is easy to access and simple,” says Nadeem, “Such as getting the visas: it was very easy the second time. Back in 2015 I had to wait three months.”

The most globally-marketed aspects of Saudi Arabia culture are seen in its new position as a high profile host of international talent: global artists are paid large sums to perform for Saudi Arabian audiences – whether for the snooker masters, FIFA World Cup, or for comedy, film and music festivals. There is, however, more to the country’s culture than this glossy imported veneer.