When Salem al-Qahtani first approached a hotel in search of a job, he was told the only positions available were for waiters. Keen for some sort of employment, the teenager tried to assure the hotel’s management that was not a problem, but he never heard back from them. Mr Qahtani is pretty sure he knows why.

“They were afraid,” he says, explaining that the prospective employers were worried that the young Saudi would be work-shy, unreliable and probably quit after a short time if given a job.