Eyes wide open, 26-year-old Nerdin Qomawi still can't believe he's in Marbella.
He hasn't been on the Costa del Sol for 48 hours and he assures, with a tone of illusion in his voice, that he hasn't stopped learning since he landed.
“Everyone is a good host here,” he explains.
"Not only the professionals, but also its people," emphasizes the girl, who comes from the city of Makkah (Mecca), in the west of the country.
On the Malaga coast, she shares a stay with another hundred young people from her country, Saudi Arabia.
They are taking part in an intensive training program financed by the Saudi Ministry of Tourism at Les Roches, an exclusive university center that has become the first in the world to receive this type of student.
They are between 25 and 35 years old and want to learn to lead the transformation of their country,
which opened for tourism in 2019 and will send thousands of people abroad to improve the sector.
At least a thousand will pass through Marbella, a destination with a long tradition linked to petrodollars and where the royal family has several palaces.
The arrival of Qomawi and his compatriots has not been improvised.
The ambitious plan that has taken them to the Costa del Sol is promoted by the Government of Saudi Arabia after Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz - a resident of Marbella for years - declared tourism strategic.
The country is looking for alternatives to an economy based on oil and in 2019 it opened its borders.
Headquarters of the Spanish soccer Super Cup, the Dakar rally or the controversial Saudi golf circuit, they have created the Saudi Vision 2030 project, which includes the construction of enormous tourist infrastructures.
They have money, but professionals specialized in tourism, no.
They have sought a quick solution: invest in the training of 100,000 young people in different parts of the world during 2022. The agility of the Spanish embassy in Saudi Arabia, which has diligently managed student visas, has facilitated their arrival in Les Roches, where about 1,300 people from all over the world are trained each year.
Apple, Google, Four Seasons, Cartier or Mandarin Oriental capture their managers here.
“In our country, when we think of vacations we think of Marbella”, insists Qomawi, who in addition to visiting the historic center or mythical places in his imagination such as Puerto Banús, hopes to absorb as much knowledge as possible to transfer it to his country.
"We want to get people not only to come, but also to repeat," says she, who believes that she has been chosen by the Ministry of Tourism for her facet as an artist and for the cultural education programs in which she works for the business group. Al-Muhaidib.
Students of the university center Les Roches de Marbella.
From left to right, Wadeh Almabyaq, Nerdin Qomawi and Mohammed Alzaler.
Garcia-Santos (El Pais)
Wadeh Almabyaq is 30 years old, comes from Qatif —with 2.5 million inhabitants and beaches that overlook the Persian Gulf— and has been educated in the United States.
It was her own government that called her to lead these expeditions: "I love helping people."
She assures that her country is still a great unknown to tourism.
Both students cite cultural projects such as the Jeddah Season, the promotion of cultural heritage and art in Al Ula or The Red Sea Project, an ambitious plan to create a luxury destination with hotels, homes, leisure centers or an airport in an area of the Red Sea coastline that combines turquoise waters with the desert.
Learn the secrets of hospitality
The group, like the rest of those who have passed and will pass through Marbella — around 1,000, although there could be more — are learning these days the secrets of customer service at all levels.
At Les Roches there is a luxury room designed for learning — from the latest technology to the use of cleaning products — and a reception where they exchange roles for practice.
In their four restaurants they also learn the secrets of haute cuisine and in the classrooms they understand sales and negotiation skills.
“It is about learning the highest standards by teaching them how everything works: from the base to the management”, explains Mano Soler, director of Les Roches Marbella.
Jon Loiti, head of academics at the center, also points out the importance of free time:
This is what Mohammed Alzaher, 33, and also from Qatif, wants.
With a permanent smile, a well-groomed beard and exquisite education, he is another member of the group of Saudis who seek to transfer excellence in tourism to their country.
He dresses, imposing, suit and tie.
He is a requirement of Les Roches, which reviews its students first thing in the morning.
They make sure the shirt is ironed, the collar clean or the shoes shined.
That is why the center's CEO, Carlos Díez de la Lastra, sums it up as "a military academy combined with a university in a luxury resort."
atmosphere during a class.
Garcia-Santos (El Pais)
“We have been chosen to be here and we seek to accumulate the maximum knowledge to be the best ambassadors of Saudi Arabia.
We want to be the new generation of leaders in the sector”, says Alzaher, who studied Finance in the United States, works at the Marriott Executive Apartments hotel south of Qatif and is amazed at the landscapes of Marbella.
He also smiles with enthusiasm at the proposal made by the Saudi government.
The Ministry of Tourism has asked all students to voluntarily submit ideas and projects that they have shaped during their training stay in Marbella.
If they are convinced, they will provide the financing to make them a reality.
There are already proposals that range from the creation of personalized and exclusive souvenirs based on traditional Saudi clothing, such as the
ghutra
or the
abaya
, to the development of tourist applications.
Be that as it may, young people seek to turn their country into a tourist power.
Between laughs, they say that they will not compete with Marbella.
“Spain has already done enough to accommodate us.
Now it is our turn”, concludes Qomawi.