While many people may spend too much time thinking about where to vacation, Saudis seem to have their minds made up early on, with flights to nearby Arab countries all booked since early January.
And where do Saudis like to spend their vacations?
Dubai continues to attract most of the Saudi vacationers, especially during short vacations. Official statistics of the United Arab Emirates, as reported by Arab News, show that 1.8 million Saudis visited Dubai during 2014.
"All flights to the city [Dubai] are booked for the current midterm school vacation on all carriers — about 5,000 passengers daily,” Waleed Al-Subaie, deputy chairman of the tourist committee in the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, explains .
Second favorite to Dubai are in Egypt: Cairo and Sharm El Sheikh. As the Egyptian political turmoil seems to settle, more Saudis are redirecting their interest back to Egypt, which shows in the 300 percent growth in the number of Saudi visitors to the two cities according to experts and operators in the travel and tourism industry.
According to Al-Subaie, other Saudi families prefer visiting European cities such as Paris or London. For those who share the same interest, the good news is that only 80 percent of the flights are booked. There’s still room to catch a flight to your fancy European destination.
While the majority of Saudis prefer to travel abroad, most local tourism remains for the purpose of visiting family or performing Umrah. On top of the most visited Saudi cities during the midyear school vacation is Jeddah. Flights to the city are also all booked for over a month, according to Muhaidib Al-Muhaidib, another member of the committee.
"Jeddah city is very suitable for families as a domestic tourism destination with the availability of hotels, malls, entertainment sites and the ever popular corniche. The city only lacks a distinguished and diversified festival to be able to compete with other cities for attracting Saudi tourists during vacations," commented Prince Abdullah bin Saud, chairman of the tourism committee at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He adds, "Jeddah lacks proper seasonal tourism. There are 200 days of the year when the city’s tourist facilities remain unutilized. The remaining 160 days are not enough to cover operational costs and make some marginal profits."
Nevertheless, Al-Subaie believes that: "still domestic tourism does not have the same momentum as overseas tourism. The average number of such inside travelers is still low compared to the number of Saudi families who spend their vacation outside the Kingdom."
So if you’re a last minute vacation planner, seems like you’ll have to get creative this time, because all the top Saudi spot are all booked up.