RIYADH, 9 November 2002 — An American tourist group had an adventurous and exciting trip in the Kingdom, even though they ended up paying 250 percent more than the agreed fare fixed at the time of booking their trip in August last year.

“Many from my group had to drop out as a local tour operator announced a steep increase over last year’s pricing on the ground that they were losing money on desert safaris,” Brid Beeler, director of California-based “Worlds Apart” tour operator told Arab News.

Brid, who arrived in the Kingdom from Oakland, California, last month, accompanied a group of American tourists to Rubul Khali (Empty Quarter), the wildlife sanctuary of Uruq Bani Ma‚arid in Rubul Khali, Hail, the Nafoud desert, Al Jouf, and the archeological monumens of Jeddah,

The local tour operator cited the risk involved in doing desert safaris. “The reasons are many, but basically we are losing money on desert tours,” states the operator’s letter to Brid, a copy of which was obtained by Arab News.

It said the company had sustained loss last year due to the breakdown of vehicles while negotiating sand dunes. Together with the cost of renting a Suburban at SR1200 per day from a different company and accommodating their customers at various hotels at their own expense, this had jacked up the overall cost of the desert safari, the letter points out.

Brid said four out of five vehicles broke down last year, while a 1994 model vehicle conked out during last month’s safari. Despite the unpleasant motoring experience, the safari did provide value for money, she said, adding:

“They wore ghotra, had a lamb slaughtered for them for dinner, and enjoyed traditional dance.” They also had a camel ride, shopped for handicrafts, and filmed gazelles as well as oryx during their odyssey. The presence of scorpions around the sleeping tents served to heighten their spirit of adventure.

According to Brid, the enormous tourism potential in the Kingdom could be tapped if Saudis could be trained to serve as guides. She has made arrangements with the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development for developing a cadre of Saudi tourist guides equipped with a functional vocabulary of at least 300 English words, to start with.

They should also be one up on the history, geography, flora and fauna of the tourist spot. However, a tourist guide they had hired had to be fired, since he was not up to the mark.

She said tourists want to experience the authentic lifestyle of the people shorn of the modern trappings of civilization. “I want to see a community of Bedouins identified in a specific region. This Bedouin family should own basic accommodation facilities powered by solar panels instead of electricity. Except for a composting toilet, there should be no concession even to telephones or TV. Tourists staying in such accommodation facilities could provide the basis for sustainable tourism for the Bedouins,” she observed.