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As a consequence of its history, culture, wealth, and technological advancements, Saudi Arabia has in a very short space of time become a famous traveler destination. The key tourist attraction in this country is Mecca, that is visited by countless Muslims each year. The other well-known places in Saudi Arabia are Riyadh, Hasa, Jeddah, and Hejaz. Riyadh may be the country’s capital manufactured of several buildings and malls also it houses certainly one of the greatest airports in the world. It has been one of the most progressive cities in the country. Hasa, that is situated in the eastern component of Saudi Arabia, is common for its coastal locations, fishing markets, and oil deposits. These petroleum deposits have attracted foreign investors, contributing to the financial stability on the kingdom. Jeddah can be a historic area that by no means fails to attract visitors owing to its architectural buildings and its world-class restaurants. Hejaz will be the trading and business spot in Saudi Arabia. This is also the cultural capital.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia features delectable dishes that satisfy the diner’s palate. These dishes may be influenced by Arabian cooking or by various countries globally such as Oriental, Indian, American, and European. International junk food chains are turning out to be popular in the country.

Saudi Arabia has the biggest stock market in Middle East and has been growing. The economy of the country is based on oil and petroleum largely since ages but the government is planning to diversify it. Saudi government has huge developmental plans as it has launched six ‘economic cities’ that will be completed by the year 2020. The building up of these cities is aimed at promoting diversification of economy and increasing per capita income.

With a lot of industrialization and development taking place, S.A has in a way expanded its vision of being a job destination. It is natural that as the country grows and diversifies its economical focus, millions of jobs in Saudi Arabia will be generated across the industries. This makes it one of the most potential choices for expats willing to relocate in the country. Also, as more and more professionals migrate to the country, one can expect to see better mixing up of expatriates and locals.

Apparently, business development is favorable in Saudi Arabia than ever before. Economic progress is visible and leading to product and service mobility in the market. Therefore, employment opportunities in the field of sales, marketing and advertising are much improved and growing. Marketing jobs in Saudi Arabia are attracting everyone’s attention as career scope in the field has widened. It offers lucrative jobs in marketing to professionals from all over the world, especially from Asian and African countries as well as from within the country.

In today’s age, nearly every brand or organization requires promotion to achieve higher visibility over competitors. The benefits of marketing can not be contested in any of the instances as it shows results almost instantly. Marketing has become a very vast industry with both online and offline ways of communication being available. This is why, marketing jobs across the companies in Saudi Arabia are coming up in large numbers. A firm can attain a strong edge over competitors if its marketing strategy is drafted well and accordingly.

From marketing officers to analysts to coordinators to managers, all kinds of marketing professionals are in high demand around the world. Marketing is an integral part for functioning of an organization as it comprises of both direct and indirect ways of generating profit. The high importance of marketing products and services has been long realized and thus, witnessing an all time boom.

Domestic tourism in Saudi Arabia:

The reason for strong thrust behind its recent growth in domestic tourism is widely attributed to the government’s efforts aimed at encouraging Saudis to spend their money within the country.

This move along with the strong cultural and traditional reasons makes Saudis more likely to travel within the country as they feel unwelcome in the West after the global war on terrorism with the US in 2001. Their attachment to their roots and origins has taken new breadth and taken tourism industry to new heights.

Much importance is being given to the richness of buildings and sites in Saudi Arabia by adding them to the UNESCO World Heritage. The tourism authority is increasingly promoting historic sites and cultural wealth of the Kingdom to encourage domestic tourism as people here have high disposable incomes.

International tourism in Saudi Arabia:

Religious tourism was historically the cornerstone of Saudi Arabia’s travel and tourism industry. It is the birthplace of Islam and is known as ‘The Land of Two Holy Mosques’ as it has the two holiest places of Islam, Mecca and Medina. It makes for most of the international tourism in the Kingdom while generating the need for well trained professionals to cater to the need of foreign tourists. Many expatriates from across the world are thus invited to take up tourism jobs in Saudi Arabia.

The international tourism has propelled the growth of various sectors of the Kingdom on the whole. Its infrastructure was born from the large number of pilgrims-domestic as well as foreign- coming to the Kingdom every year. The massive religious tourism resulted in mushrooming of various hotels and growth in transportation networks across the Kingdom.

Medical tourism has also started feeding off the growth of religious tourism in Saudi Arabia. Religious tourism has, in fact, been instrumental in promoting domestic tourism as will. As foreseen, it will continue to grow strongly in the coming years and push travel and tourism industry of the Kingdom many notches higher.

Jobs in Middle East are the most sought after by professionals willing to relocate in an unexplored area. The lifestyle in this region may be a bit conservative but one does not really take a lot of time adjusting to it. It is advisable that one undertakes a research on the culture and laws followed in the country to avoid any troubles later.

1. Communication Style– Differences in communication styles can often be a cultural challenge and as a result, international organisations doing business in Saudi Arabia without adequate briefing may often find themselves feeling confused and frustrated. The communication style in Saudi tends to be quite indirect and high context. More simply this means that communication relies more heavily on body language and other non-verbal cues such as tone of voice and the use of silence. When doing business in Saudi Arabia, it is wise to remember that information is rarely explicitly stated, silence is often used for contemplation and a direct “no” is almost never used.

2. Islam – Islam touches many aspects of society within Saudi Arabia. The country is governed on the basis of Sharia (Islamic Law) and a great majority of the population are Arabs who adhere to the Wahhabi sect of Islam. Islam shapes the values and rules concerning the appropriate way to behave and relate to family, community and business. As a result there are customs and social duties that affect the Saudi Arabian business world and affect the way business is dealt with. In the world’s current climate, several stereotypes are prevalent concerning Islamic faith and therefore when doing business in Saudi Arabia it is important to reserve time to research Islam yourself.  Ignorance as to how Islam influences business and every day life could damage relations.

3. Relationships – Personal relationships are a fundamental aspect of Middle Eastern culture. People take a sincere interest in each other and invest a lot of time in getting to know others. There isn’t a clear line of distinction between business and personal relationships which means that one is quite often used to further the interests of the other. People tend to prefer getting to know a person before trusting them in business. When doing business in the Saudi Arabia, remember that a huge emphasis is placed on the network and refusing requests made by friends is often considered rude. Great pride is placed in hospitality with which a person’s character is measured, take advantage of this opportunity to develop personal and professional relationships.

4. Attitude to time – Although punctuality is expected of foreigners, business in Saudi Arabia has a more flexible attitude towards time and business meetings tend to be less structured in nature. However, it is rare for meetings to intrude on daily prayers and equally, when doing business in Saudi Arabia, considerations must be made to schedule business meetings in a way that does not interfere with prayer times. Furthermore, it is important to remember that the working week begins on a Saturday and ends on Wednesday with Thursday and Friday being the official days of rest.

5. Hierarchy –Saudi Arabian culture places great emphasis on dignity and respect. Younger people are expected to display this respect to their elders by using the appropriate titles and levels of deference. Within business, leaders distribute power from the top and only those in senior positions have decision making capacity. When entering a room or greeting your Saudi counterparts for the first time you should approach the most senior person first.

Owing to its background, culture, wealth, and technological advancements, Saudi Arabia has in a very short space of time become a famous tourist destination. The key traveller attraction in this country is Mecca, that is visited by countless Muslims every year. They see this spot as reported by the Islam recommendation as being a spiritual journey also it has the Kaaba Enclosure along with the birthplace of their prophet Muhammed, the House of Abdullah Bin Abdul Muttalib.

The other common destinations in Saudi Arabia are Riyadh, Hasa, Jeddah, and Hejaz. Riyadh could be the country’s capital comprised of numerous buildings and shopping malls and it houses certainly one of the greatest airports internationally. It may be one of the most progressive urban centers in the land. Hasa, that is situated in the eastern component of Saudi Arabia, is common for its coastal regions, fishing markets, and oil deposits. These petroleum deposits have attracted foreign investors, contributing to the financial stability on the kingdom. Jeddah can be a historic location that by no means fails to attract visitors as a consequence of its architectural buildings and its world-class restaurants. Hejaz would be the trading and business spot in Saudi Arabia. This is also the cultural capital with the kingdom.

Jobs in Middle East are the most sought after these days with the growing potential of the region’s economies to develop and expand. As the government focuses on shifting the huge dependence from oil and petroleum reserves, there is an unprecedented scope for growth in the economy of the Middle East. In order to achieve the overall development of the economy, all the sectors like tourism, finance, healthcare, education, real estate, manufacturing and others need to be developed at high and quick pace. Recognizing this, large numbers of companies have opened up who are looking outside for the right talent to work with them as Saudis are not trained well enough yet. This is why thousands of jobs in Saudi Arabia are available for foreigners benefiting both the employers and the professionals.

Middle East welcomes expat professionals with such open arms that some of its regions have higher population of migrants as compared to the locals. Since, education related sectors like institutes for professional training and higher education are not very well developed; only a petty number of locals are well trained. Nationals usually go to other countries to pursue higher education and no one usually returns to work. This is why there is such scarcity of trained workforce forcing employers to recruit candidates from outside the region. Jobs in Middle East offer great opportunity to skilled workers to get highly paid for their services and lead a comforting lifestyle among people from different walks of life. Even though migration is a common phenomenon both within and outside the country, Middle East offers one-of-a-kind experience. One gets to meet people from all kinds of countries-poor/rich or developed/developing and exchange views on various issues.

The tourism sector in Saudi Arabia is developing fast, it being ‘The Land of the Two Holy Mosques’. Visitors from all over the world and within the region come to visit the holy shrines of Mecca and Medina giving a boost to Saudi tourism. Religious tourism is also encouraged by the launch of low cost airlines that offer cheap fares on domestic routes breathing new life into the domestic travel market. The slashing down of air fares brought fierce competition to the Kingdom’s national carrier, Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA), which was forced to engage in aggressive promotion. This indirectly brings in the role of marketing and advertising pushing up the sector and promote employment opportunities. Tourism and marketing jobs in Saudi Arabia are, therefore, available in plenty for those with proper qualification and experience.

With growth in tourism, the need to flourish hospitality industry is also being felt increasingly. Most large hotels are managed by group of international hotel management and none are owned or managed by a Saudi chain. Rotana Group from the UAE is the only actually local brand belonging to a local group, so, the development of local brands such as large hotel chains is likely to be the next trend. This, however, is not prevent global players from entering the Kingdom’s market when it is seen as very profitable affair. Apparently, hotel jobs in Saudi Arabia are on a roll inviting various hotel management professionals who are skilled enough to provide international level services.

Water temperatures in summer are around 29 degrees Celsius, making diving conditions extremely pleasant but in winter temperatures can drop to as low as 22 degrees. Any divers heading for Jeddah on a winter break would be well advised to pack their 5mm wetsuit complete with a hood if they are to avoid any chills!

When not engaged in diving, the main attraction for visitors to Jeddah is the old town, known as al-Balad. The ancient city walls have long gone, but still-surviving historic gates mark out the perimeter of the old town which contains a jumble of old buildings, including rickety coral-built houses. Although obviously in abundant supply due to the large reef just off shore, coral is not a particularly robust building material. As a result many of these two and three storey buildings look like they are teetering on the verge of collapse!

However, before taking pictures in Jeddah make sure you get the relevant photography licence and remember not to take photos of individuals without first obtaining their permission. Another marvellous photo opportunity presents itself at the King Fahd Fountain where the water is shot up to 312 metres in the air, making it the highest fountain in the world.

But, once the scuba and sightseeing options are exhausted only one thing remains – shopping! Most visitors to Jeddah head to the Red Sea Mall for some leather bargains and also to the boutiques at one of Saudi Arabia’s most exclusive districts – Tahlia Street. And, whether visiting Jeddah for the scuba experience or for the sightseeing, it is still a relatively undiscovered gem in the Middle East.