The Passport Department in the Asir region recently organized a program to enlighten Saudis traveling abroad and urging them to pay extra attention to their passports and keep them in a safe place while traveling abroad in order to avoid getting in trouble.

The department has distributed pamphlets among passengers traveling through Abha airport as well as Alab checkpoint on the Kingdom’s border with Yemen.

Thousands of Saudis travel each summer to spend their vacations abroad.

The program started at the airport’s international terminal in the presence of Brig. Saad Al-Suwaidi, director of passports in the region. Al-Suwaidi also met with Abdul Aziz Abuharba, director of the airport, and discussed ways and means to make the awareness program successful and to ensure that as many passengers as possible benefit from this campaign.

“This program is part of a general awareness campaign being launched by the Passport Department all over the Kingdom,” said Al-Suwaidi.

“We want citizens to protect their travel documents safely to avoid questioning by the destination authorities because of the loss of passports as a result of their negligence,” the passport director said.

“We also explain to them how to ensure their safety and security in foreign countries and to avoid places with potential risk to their safety,” he added. He stressed the importance of passport being an official document issued in the name of a person.

“It is the duty of the passport holder to keep it safely and to avoid losing it or getting it stolen,” Al-Suwaidi said, adding that it should be kept in a secure place in their residence and people should keep away from suspicious places.