The Saudi Ministry of the Interior has removed South Africa, the UAE and Argentina from its banned country list as of September 8.
Vaccinated visitors from those countries are now allowed into Saudi Arabia and Saudis will be permitted to visit the three countries, which was not possible previously due to the Kingdom’s assessment of the epidemiological standing of each country.
According to Business Insider, Saudi Arabia accounted for 11 000 arrivals in South Africa in 2019 (pre-pandemic). This makes it South Africa’s second-biggest tourism source market in the Middle East, with travel from the Kingdom surging by 34% in 2019 over 2018 (numbers from Statistics SA).
South Africans travelling to the Kingdom will find preventative measures in place, such as the wearing of masks in public and the need to present proof of vaccination when entering certain locations, including shopping malls.
Saudi Arabia has steep fines for non-compliance with COVID regulations. For individual offenders fines range from SAR1 000 (R3 800) to SAR100 000 (R380 000) for individual repeat offenders.
Visitors must download the Tawakkalna mobile app (developed by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority and the Ministry of Health), to verify the individual’s vaccination status paired with the passport number. Additionally, non-Saudi nationals with tourist visas need to register on the "Arrival Registration" platform with their visa number.
Acceptable vaccines are: Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson (Janssen). Visitors are considered fully vaccinated 14 days after their last and final dose.
In addition to vaccination, a 72-hour negative PCR test certificate is also required, excepting for returning Saudi citizens and travellers under eight years of age.
