Free tourist trips .. Saudi resort to Hassanat and influencers in Instagram to beautify its image

The Saudi Guardian newspaper reported that Saudi Arabia is resorting to the services of beautiful women influential in Instagram and famous celebrities in the content industry in YouTube to change its image in the world public opinion, which was badly damaged by Saudi Arabia's disastrous human rights record and the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a consulate. His country in Istanbul.

Hasnaa women and famous men from Europe and Australia have recently published on their Instagram accounts, which are followed by hundreds of thousands of landscapes from Saudi Arabia, especially to the Al-Ola tourist area in northwestern Saudi Arabia, also known as Madain Saleh.

Saudi Arabia has hired Prince Turki Al Faisal's public relations firm, Gateway, to arrange paid trips to celebrities in the media, content and travel industry.

The Riyadh authorities provide helicopters to transport them as part of tourist visits to islands in the Red Sea and the desert area of ​​Al-Ola, in an attempt to improve the image of the Kingdom in the world through pictures posted by these celebrities on their pages on the websites.

No criticism
The Guardian warns that these celebrities, who are posting pictures of their tourist visits to Saudi Arabia, do not refer in any way to human rights violations in the Kingdom such as the arrest and torture of academics, religious scholars, journalists and women defenders of women's rights, as well as the Kingdom's responsibility in the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Rihan Ismail, an academic at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the National University in Australia, says Riyadh has spent millions of dollars to improve its image in the West, especially after the assassination of journalist Khashoggi.

According to the academy, the influencers in the communication sites who are touring as part of a program financed by the Saudi government do not see the reality of its inclusiveness inside the Kingdom, and "therefore talk about a change within it towards the release of freedoms, while it is a repressive state."

Australian influencers
Among the celebrities Riyadh turned to was Australian photographer Gap Skano
(363,000 followers on Instagram) and Australian influencer Tara Whitman (1.3 million followers), in order to promote the image of Saudi Arabia among young Australian tourists.

Scano, 22, filmed a film about the kingdom in February 2018 broadcast on YouTube to publicize its tourism, and the move sparked angry reactions to the Australian photographer for accepting to participate in a program of tourist visits funded by the Riyadh government.

The Australian photographer says that before he invited Saudi officials for considerations related to his creative work, he denied any link to political considerations.

The Guardian newspaper said it had contacted about 50 influential figures in Australia's websites who had agreed to participate in paid tourist visits to Saudi Arabia, or had participated in paid advertising for the kingdom.

Cancel interviews
Two of those influential Australians canceled interviews with Guardian five minutes ahead of schedule, the newspaper said, adding that the Saudi Tourism Authority had sent a letter asking its influential contractors not to talk to the media.

More than a week ago, The New York Times published a report saying that social media influencers, followed by millions of people, are being criticized for advocating tourism in Saudi Arabia.

Observers of these influencers have written comments critical of their participation in improving the image of a country where activists are detained, and whose leadership is involved in the assassination of Khashoggi just for criticizing government policies.