SAUDI ARABIA

SCTH: Women allowed accommodation in tourism facilities without a mahram

Proof of kinship no longer a condition for accommodation in hotels

October 04, 2019

JEDDAH – The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) has recently approved a new regulation that allows women, who arrive in the Kingdom for tourism, to stay in tourism accommodation facilities on her own without the need of a mahram, Okaz said it has learned.

Mahram is a person whom the women cannot marry. The woman can also secure admission to these accommodations without her guardian (father, husband) in tow, Okaz said.

The new SCTH directives make it compulsory for the woman to present her original national identity card or family register and for the expatriate women their passport when they apply to stay in the tourism facilities.

In this decision, SCTH has asked tourism accommodation facilities not to provide accommodation to women who do not hold identification papers, unless they are accompanied by a male relative, whose data ought to be registered.

The SCTH has abrogated the condition for the need to present identification papers or family register if the male accommodation seeker is accompanying his family on arrival.

Earlier this was a compulsory requirement. It applies to Saudis, expatriates, foreign visitors or tourists.

The SCTH has stressed that it is compulsory for the facility licensed to provide tourist accommodation to have a direct link with the SCTH in order to provide it with the data and information via the National Tourism Monitoring Platform.

Furthermore, these facilities should be committed to provide the SCTH with whatever additional information or data it asks, through any means the SCTH sees fit and within a maximum period of 48 hours from the time of requesting the information.


October 04, 2019
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