Saudi Arabia is gearing up to issue select visas to welcome  tens of thousands of tourists under its initiative of sweeping national reform. The move aims to showcase the country's rich heritage, including pre-Islamic sites as well as encourage the country nationals to spend some of their tourist money at home.

The  head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, Prince Sultan Bin Salman, said that, the country will be opening up, but it will not be  "totally open for everybody to just show up and come in."

"It is open for people that are doing business, for people working in Saudi Arabia, investing in Saudi Arabia, and people who are visiting for special purposes. And now it will be open for tourism again on a selected basis," he said.

At present, the country does not issue tourist visas, however it ran a pilot program between 2006 and 2010 and welcome nearly 25,000 visitors in a year to see ancient archaeological sites of Saudi Arabia and vast landscapes of  coastline, mountains, valleys, volcanoes and deserts.

"Smelling and hearing the sounds of their country and tasting this fantastic multicultural country is something that's important for any nation that wants to go to the future confidently," Prince Sultan said.

“So many people today may look at their country practically as an ATM machine, which is very, very, very sad," he added.

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- Nandini