Sara Qassim was told she was better off being a doctor or a teacher than a tour guide. Now, she’s the first Saudi woman to win the Tourism Trainer Award.
Desperate to break into the male-dominant industry, she started out as a booking agent in Jeddah and worked her way up the tourism ladder to become the head of the hospitality department at the International Technical College in Mekkah. But, Qassim did not stop there. Her passion to give back to her community and empower other Saudi women to join the tourism field led her to attend international training workshops and become a certified trainer in tourism.
Sara Qassim
After only 10 years of working in the field, Sara now trains the first generation of Saudi women tour guides. Due to the increasingly high demand for tourism trainers and the lack of specialized university programs in tourism in the Kingdom, she hopes to be able to teach more career-driven women who want to break into the industry.
After receiving the prestigious award, Qassim said, “I am so happy to win the Tourism Trainer Award granted to me by a government entity and Prince Sultan Bin Salman. It made me motivated further and driven to empower more women to join the field.”
