Defining just which days should comprise the Saudi weekend is proving a very contentious issue in the Kingdom. It pits international businessmen (and that includes most businesses outside of ‘mom and pop’ enterprises) against traditionalists. But the traditionalists don’t have a very strong case in arguing that the current, Thursday-Friday weekend has some sacred aspect. The Thursday-Friday weekend, in fact, was only legally defined in the 1980s (See these earlier posts from 2006 and 2007: Tweaking the Week; Debate over Saudi Workweek Continues.)

Gulf News from Dubai picks up the story with this piece about statements by the Eastern Province Chambers of Commerce & Industry calling for the change. Other states in the GCC have either made the shift already to Friday-Saturday weekends or are planning to do so. This would leave the Saudis at a distinct disadvantage with their closest competitors. I suspect the weekend days will be changed in the coming year.

Saudis push for Friday-Saturday weekend
Mariam Al Hakeem

Riyadh: Saudi businessmen and economists yesterday called for changing the weekend in the kingdom to Friday and Saturday.

They said that the present Thursday-Friday weekend was negatively affecting the economy of the kingdom.

Saudis believe that it was essential for the kingdom’s economy to switch the weekly off days from Thursday and Friday to Friday and Saturday. They added that at the present time they are cut off the other world countries for four days – Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Businessmen said that if the holiday were changed they would have an extra day and an opportunity to make business contact with companies in other parts of the globe.
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