(CNN) — Saudi Arabia is opening to tourists.
The conservative, often closed-off country has announced plans to roll out a new visitor visa from April 1, 2018. When it goes live, it’ll allow travelers (including women 25 and older) to enter the country once in 30 days.
It’s part of a bold plan to boost visitor numbers — and revenue — beyond the millions of Muslims who make the pilgrimage to Mecca each year.
Also in the works are a major theme park and new resorts on the country’s Red Sea coast. So what can you expect when you travel here?
As a taster, foreigners were invited to join some 600,000 spectators during Saudi Arabia’s month-long King Abdulaziz Camel Festival in early 2018.
While heavy on the camels, the event offered a chance to sample a slice of Saudi culture and road test the experience of being in a destination that rarely appears on vacation itineraries.
Set to be repeated in 2019, it’s a good event to time a trip around.
The camel festival involves camel hair art, camel sand art, camel racing, camel beauty pageants, and hipster food trucks selling camel burgers.
“We need people outside Saudi Arabia to see how we live, to see what the camel means for us,” says Sultan Al-Bogomi, an official spokesperson of the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival.
“It’s part of our living, our parents’ living. They drink the camels, they have the meat of the camels… Saudi has a long partnership with this camel.”
Camels are judged on their dainty ears, the shape of their head, their height and color, and even their lips.
There was $57 million of prize money up for grabs.
The festival recently reached international attention for a scandal involving 12 botoxed beauty camels.
“We found some people do that to their camels, and we banned them for five years,” said Al-Bogomi. “It was just 12 camels from 26,000 camels who come here. We don’t accept that at all.”
There’s now a three-step process to weed out any potential botox behavior. It involves vets, camel experts and university pros, said Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Sammari, general supervisor of the King Abdulaziz Foundation.
“We have support from the local community,” added Al-Sammari.
“In any sport, you have [people] using injections. [It’s] the same thing with camels. People try to make them better and to convince judges they are better.
“This should not be done.”
The growing emphasis on tourism happens at a time when Saudi Arabia is changing. February marks the one-year anniversary of the conservative country allowing female-only gyms.
The government has announced plans to end a 35-year ban on cinemas, and women are being permitted to drive for the first time.
Now the government wants to attract 30 million visitors a year by 2030, up from just 18 million in 2016.
“I wish many people from foreign countries come to see how people in Saudi Arabia are changing their minds, open[ing their] minds,” said Al-Bogomi.
“And that we can live together in peace.”
Once the visa scheme is up and running from April 1, 2018, it should allow single entry within a 30-day period.
This also applies to women of 25 and older, who will be allowed to visit Saudi Arabia in designated groups. Younger women will still be required to visit in the company of their husband or male family.