Travel in city Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

When you think of a cruise vacation, you probably imagine sailing the tropical waters of the Caribbean, or navigating around the Greek islands. Your brain likely isn’t conjuring images of the sandswept deserts of Saudi Arabia. But Saudi Arabia strives to make itself more attractive for international tourism — making the process of getting a visa very easy, and establishing tourism-specific destinations like NEOM and AlUla. And thanks to its efforts, it’s become a desirable new destination for Red Sea cruises. Since the first cruise to Saudi Arabia in January 2022, sailings to the kingdom have multiplied. Right now Jeddah is the country’s main cruise port, though as tourism development continues throughout the region, more ports are likely to open. Whether you’re a cruise enthusiast or a newbie, now’s the time to consider a Saudi Arabia cruise.

Intrepid Travel has announced a women’s-only tour in Saudi Arabia — led by women, for women. 

Some of the shiniest luxury tools in Accor's brand toolbox are overseen by Omer Acar, the CEO of two of Paris-based Accor's glitziest brands: Raffles Hotels & Resorts and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.

AROYA Cruises, the new Arabian cruise line operated by Cruise Saudi, has revealed its new mystery cruise ship, the first in its fleet.

The 37th America’s Cup sailing race will take place in the year 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. However, the first of three preliminary regattas before that event has kicked off in Vilanova i la Geltrú, a coastal city some 30 coastal miles [50 kilometers] south of Barcelona. Out of six racing teams from New Zealand, the U.S., U.K, Switzerland, Italy and France, the French Orient Express team cooly breezed into a win on the first competitive event on a hot 85 degree [29 Celsius] Saturday mid-afternoon.

Malaysia’s Capital A has submitted plans for a corporate restructuring, which will involve the merger of its low-cost airline AirAsia with long-haul carrier AirAsia X.

The national security advisors of India, U.S., the United Arab Emirates, and the Saudi Crown Prince met in Riyadh. They discussed ways to develop a joint infrastructure that connects Gulf and Arab countries via a railway network and also extends to India via shipping lanes. The White House issued a statement that the advisors met in Riyadh to “advance their shared vision of a more secure and prosperous Middle East region interconnected with India and the world,” American news website Axios reported. The Indian and UAE authorities did not issue separate readouts publicly. India is particularly keen to participate in the project to build a brand as an infrastructure builder in the railway sector. Boasting a strong rail network at home and buoyed by the success of creating such infrastructure in Sri Lanka, India has the confidence to do it overseas. It wants private and public sector enterprises to explore the region’s potential economic and infrastructure opportunities. Moreover, India’s connectivity with its Western neighbors could be enhanced as it can use shipping routes to reach West Asian ports such as Chabahar and Bandar-e-Abbas (Iran), Duqm (Oman), Dubai (UAE), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and Kuwait City. According to the Axios report, the idea for the railway project germinated at the I2U2 forum — which includes the U.S., Israel, the UAE and India — established in late 2021 to discuss strategic infrastructure projects in West Asia.

It’s official: Passengers flying on nine airlines non-stop to the U.S. from 10 airports (Cairo, Egypt; Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia; Istanbul in Turkey; and Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates) will be prohibited from bringing electronic devices larger than cellphones on board with them.