JEDDAH: An opinion survey conducted by Okaz/Saudi Gazette found that 71.4 percent of respondents do not approve of women working as tour guides, while many of the remaining 28.6 percent said it was only acceptable if they worked with female tourists only. The results of the survey, which was conducted on the Okaz Arabic language website, were described by tourism consultant Abdullah Al-Juhani as “predictable”. “A number of considerations come into play on this issue,” said Al-Juhani, who is a member of the Consultative Committee for Tourism Travel Organizers. “Society tends to exhibit reluctance when confronted with anything new and is fearful of any mixing of the sexes. One needs only hark back to the huge fuss around 60 years ago over permitting women to enter education.” He said that one of the main weaknesses of tourism in Saudi Arabia was the “lack of interest in archeology and museums”. “This is part of an ingrained attitude toward historical artifacts that has developed over a great many years,” he said, “and although I think it's starting to change a bit, it will still predominate for years to come.” He said that “tourism” for most Saudis constituted “shopping, sales, and a change of location for better weather”. A fellow member of the travel organizers committee, Ahmad Mustafa, said that women could work as guides with families and school pupils “within the framework of Shariah rules”, and would like to see a tourism guide society set up to oversee the work of the profession in the Kingdom. “If women were permitted to work as tourist guides it would open up scores of jobs for graduates in history and archeology, and help give our archeological sites the attention they deserve after years of neglect,” Mustafa said. “I'd like to see a national campaign to encourage women to work as tourist guides.” Mustafa lamented the neglect and lack of interest in “most of the country's museums and archeological sites”. “Schools should be required to make visits every month to the country's important sites of archeological and historical interest,” he said. Female tourist guide Fatima Al-Ali said she was “proud and passionate” about her work. “I have been interested in archeology and history for a long time, and I'm proud to help inform about the history and civilization of this country,” she said. “The work is not as easy as some might think. You have to have detailed knowledge of the history of the place you are touring and what it tells us about the past and present.”
