Three weeks ago, as Saudi Arabian women drove themselves for the first time in years following the rescinding of a decades-long ban of female motorists, businesses across the country continued to expand their offerings in order to take advantage of this new pool of potential customers. From showrooms to ride hailing apps, various sectors in the Kingdom are exploring ways to capture the new business opportunities offered by the lifted driving ban.
Now, AMEInfo reports that data released by SEMrush, a leading digital marketing suite, shows a largely positive response towards Saudi women drivers not only inside the Kingdom but also across the GCC region as well. As reported by the site, this data could translate to a growth in the region’s rent-a-car sector, particularly with regards to inter-GCC road tourism and short-haul business travel coming from and to Saudi Arabia.
SEMrush analyzed more than 20,000 tweets in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the week Saudi women were officially allowed to start driving. The results showed the large majority of Arabic tweets in the Kingdom and the UAE had positive sentiment towards the decision to allow Saudi women to drive. Saudi Arabian tweets were 43 percent positive and only 13 percent negative, while tweets from the UAE Arabic displayed 47 percent positivity and only 1 percent negative sentiment.
Saudi Arabia is already one of the largest contributors to tourist arrival volumes in neighboring GCC markets. According to recent visitor numbers released by the Dubai Tourism & Commerce Marketing Department, tourists from the Kingdom to Dubai reached 1.5 million annual visitors in 2017, with large peaks witnessed around the two main Eid holidays.
As 120,000 Saudi women have already applied for driving licenses according to the Saudi Ministry of Interior, this means that the upcoming Eid holiday in August could witness a significant increase in Saudi Arabian women embarking on road journeys across the Kingdom and UAE around the next Eid period.
Ultimately, tourism in the region and locally in Saudi Arabia is set to increase substantially in the coming months, as well as with regards to international tourists coming into the Kingdom. Speaking recently in Jeddah, China’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Li Huaxin pointed out that the Kingdom is set to become a major world tourist destination given its cultural and heritage potential. According to Arab News, he also affirmed that if tourist visas are introduced for foreign delegations in Saudi Arabia, the number of Chinese tourists will increase considerably, pointing to the 140 million Chinese who visited various tourist destinations during the past year.
