This leaves many Saudi families with no other choice but to take bank loans or borrow money from relatives to travel abroad.

The average cost of traveling to European destinations including tickets and hotel is SR20,000 for a couple for 15 days.

In comparison, it costs an average of SR10,000 to travel to destinations in the Middle East, like Egypt and Syria, for the same period. This amount excludes personal shopping expenses.

Spending vacations in Europe is becoming a necessity for some families, not only because of the revolutions elsewhere, but also because of its ostensible prestige and the cool weather. However, spending a good time in Europe requires a good amount of money that the majority of Saudi families cannot afford. This forces them to either take bank loans or borrow a large amount of money from relatives and friends.

Financial manager at a tourism agency in Jeddah Abdulrahman Salmeen confirmed the trend: “It is expected this summer that Europe will witness an increase in the number of Saudi tourists, while the number of Saudi tourists to Arab countries such as Egypt and Syria will decline due to the current chaos there,” he said.

Some men are driven by their wives to go to Europe for the summer holidays. Abdullah Al-Zahrani, a Saudi government schoolteacher earning SR10,000 a month, prefers to travel to Arab countries in order to spend less money, while his wife insists on traveling to Europe.  “I can afford traveling to cities like Cairo, Dubai, Beirut and Damascus. My wife began nagging about traveling to Europe, because she wanted to be equal to her friends who travel to Europe every year. I managed to save SR30,000 in 15 months just to finance the trip. Coincidentally, various revolutions happened in Arab countries, so I am faced with no choice but to travel to London or any other European destination,” added Al-Zahrani.

Thuraya Al-Marzougi, a Saudi teacher and mother of three children, prefers to travel to Europe, but her husband cannot offer the trip. Al-Marzougi decided to take a loan from the bank in order to travel to Paris or London during the next summer vacation.

“Every summer, I travel to an Arab country. My relatives began criticizing me for this. My husband never took any loans before and was against the idea. I had no choice but to take a SR40,000 bank loan in order to finance my trip to a destination in Europe for a whole month,” said Al-Marzougi.

Razan Taha, a Saudi university student who will get married next month, decided to have her honeymoon in Spain. Her fiancé had other plans: “My husband was planning to have our honeymoon in Malaysia because of the beautiful nature and the affordable prices. My friends, however, advised me to travel to Spain, because that country is more beautiful. In addition, Malaysia has become an old-fashioned place for honeymooners,” she added.

Razan offered to borrow money from her mother in order to finance the trip to Spain. Besides the tickets and hotel prices, she borrowed SR20,000 to help her husband in case he fell short of money during the trip.