Prince Sultan Bin Salman, Secretary General of the Commission for Tourism and Antiquities has announced a move for UNESCO registration of Madain Saleh, the world famous Nabataean archeological site, as a historic architectural heritage site. He said that the registration of Madain Saleh, a treasure trove of monumental rock carvings located in the northwestern part of the Kingdom, was an important step in the development of the nation's tourism sector and that other archeological and heritage sites would be registered without delay. According to Prince Sultan, the Kingdom, which has already submitted requests to UNESCO to register three sites, will not restrict itself to archeological and heritage sites, but will also include important natural formations found in several regions of the Kingdom. The secretary general said that the Kingdom has tourism potential comparable to that of many countries and that establishing a vibrant tourism industry would create thousands of job opportunities and enormous financial returns. He pointed out that there were 220 million people around the world employed in some aspect of the tourism sector. – Asharq Al
