When Saudi Arabia loosened visa requirements to attract U.S. travelers, Travcoa was ahead of the game because it was already working on a tour of the surrounding region.
“We were already in every country bordering Saudi Arabia except Yemen and Iraq,” said Jerre Fuqua, Travcoa’s president.
“We’d been working on this tour for a while,” said Louise Shumbris, Travcoa’s director of product operation and development. “We only recently decided it was time to go back into Arabia. The itinerary includes Kuwait, Dubai, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. We were scurrying all around Saudi Arabia, so we thought why not include it?”
Normally tour development takes years, Shumbris said.
“We have our feet in three years at once,” she said. “We have trips leaving today, we’re negotiating for next year and we’re looking for ideas for the year after that.”
Travcoa last included Saudi Arabia in a tour 10 years ago.
“This is a similar itinerary, but more up to date,” said Shumbris. “Things have changed in the Middle East, especially in Dubai.”
Travcoa’s first ventures into Saudi Arabia will only last two days. “Saudi Arabia isn’t a place where you can go and visit for two weeks,” said Shumbris. “That’s not what our clients would want.”
The tour will enter Saudi Arabia by land, not air. “We’ll visit two smaller towns and the Al-Hasa oasis, one of the largest in the world, an amazing sight.”
Dividing two weeks among five countries not only provides variety but also flexibility in regard to security concerns, Shumbris said.
“One thing that most people are embarrassed to ask about, but is on everyone’s mind, is safety and security,” said Shumbris. “The Middle East is a pretty volatile area. Anything can happen at any time. One of the beauties of this itinerary is that if something happens in one country, the whole tour is not called off. We have the flexibility to change.”
Travel to Saudi Arabia presents other challenges. Women visiting Saudi Arabia, as in other Muslim countries, must conform to strict restrictions on attire, which means being almost entirely covered. In addition, travelers with Israeli stamps on their passports may be denied entry.
The tour, called Jewels of Arabia, targets a small market.
“We have three departures of 18 each,” said Fuqua. “The beauty of our kind of business is that there are travel agents who know people who are exactly right for this type of trip. If we have 150 people who want to go, we can add capacity.”
To contact reporter David Cogswell, send e-mail to [email protected].