The Unfenced Desert Towards a strategy for eco ... - Nwrc.gov.sa

Overall, 62% of people used private cars, 27% rented a vehicle, and 11% used taxis. But
again there was a difference between domestic and international holiday-makers (Figure
Tourist travel in), with 87% of domestic vacationers using a private car, 9% using rentals
and 4% using taxis. In contrast, travel at international locations was primarily by rental
car (52%), and secondarily by private car (25%) or taxi (23%). Some discrepancy may be
noted whereby people appear to travel to a destination by plane, but then use a private
car. This is not uncommon and arises from the practise of sending a loaded family car to
the holiday destination by car-transport, and thereby avoiding long, boring, and
potentially hazardous road journeys. There are a number of commercial firms which
specialise in the transport of private vehicles.
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Question 9. Weekly holiday expenditure.
Of the 152 replies to this question, some were clearly rough estimates, a few of which
seemed to be marked under-estimates given the size of the family and the preferred
accommodation or destination. When a range was given I used the upper limit. Overall,
on average SR2690 was spent per week during vacations (SR384 per day), with a range of
40 (camping in a tent in the desert) to 15,000. As expected there was a difference
between domestic (mean SR 2086) and international (mean SR3543) holiday expenditure
(Table). These figures are in close agreement with those obtained in a 1993 survey
(ARAC 1994), which suggested equivalent weekly expenditures of SR 1750-2100 and of
SR3850, for internal and external tourists respectively. The ARAC (1994) study showed
that Saudis tend to spend 50% more than other tourists within destinations outside Saudi
Arabia.
Table. Saudi tourist expenditure (Saudi Riyals per week).
Parameter Domestic International Overall
Mean 2086 3543 2690
Range 40-10,000 700-15,000 40-15,000
Mode 2000 2000 2000
Median 2000 3000 2000
Sample size 89 63 152
A crude estimate can be calculated of the annual leakage of revenue due to Saudi
nationals taking holidays outside the Kingdom. On average Saudis spend SR 506/day
during overseas holidays. It has been estimated that some 3 million Saudis take vacations
overseas each year (ARAC 1993); therefore SR1.5 billion is being spent per vacation day.
If, on average, 24 days are spent on holiday away from home by international holiday
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