The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia announced that all fans who go as spectators to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and who have the “Hayya Card”, or fan card, will be able to enter the Arab kingdom without having to request a visa or pay rates.
The Ministry said in a statement that it has launched an electronic service to obtain the entry visa to Saudi Arabia that will be exclusive to those who already have the “Hayya Card”, an entry permit to the state of Qatar that will be necessary to present together with the ticket to access the stadiums.
The ultra-conservative kingdom, a neighbor of Qatar, opened its doors to foreign tourists in 2019, in an attempt to reduce its economic dependence on oil, which accounts for almost all of the monarchy’s income.
Until then, the country only granted visas to foreigners who requested it for business, work or religious reasons, such as the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Since then and with the intention of attracting tourists, the Saudi Arabian authorities have started a series of megaprojects and have opened the doors of the archaeological jewel of Al Ula, a region in the northwest of the country inhabited for 7,000 years that has similar constructions to those of Petra, in Jordan.
Likewise, the Saudi authorities have promoted a series of liberalizing reforms with the same objective, although international NGOs have questioned whether it is ethically correct to do tourism in a country like Saudi Arabia, which has a terrible human rights record. EFE
