JEDDAH – The first integrated tourism center in the Kingdom is to be launched under the aegis of Prince Mishal Bin Majed, Governor of Jeddah and Chairman of the Tourism Development Council in the governorate. The center, located on Prince Muhammad Bin Abdulaziz (Tahlia) Street, here will be managed and organized by Al-Ibaa Establishment and supervised by the Tourism Development Council and Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), with support from the National Program for Handicrafts (Barea). The first integrated tourism center in the Kingdom contains numerous tourism projects distributed in a number of sections over different areas. The center will be two stories – a ground floor and upper floor, apart from external parking lots. The total area is estimated at 5,000 sq. meters. The center aims at supporting productive young men and women to market their handicrafts and heritage articles for which the Kingdom is famous. Various authorities, companies and specialist centers in the fields of tourism and handicrafts will be participating in the center. Opportunities are still available for the participation of different tourism authorities from different parts of the Kingdom. What is unique here is that the tourism center provides free space to ensure direct marketing for tourism service providers with the various types of tourism in Jeddah (land, sea, heritage and historical) and for handicrafts that are recognized as having been produced by Saudis. There are other areas that are provided at a nominal rent for participating authorities. The center provides promising investment opportunities by hosting numerous businessmen to see the tourism and handicraft products and then support their producers. The center provides special attention to the tourism activating programs in Jeddah. It displays many of its awareness programs, apart from allocating a section for tourist guidance through tourism service providers. The center also has a tourism website for marketing national handicrafts. It has other sections, like tourism development awareness projects and programs, successful tourism experiments, tourism information and social media, programs for organizing tourist trips and Jeddah tourism bus. There is a special section for displaying tourism products that has several pavilions. They include tourism products, activities and programs, Jeddah tourism exhibition, and Jeddah children and tourism exhibition, among others. Haifa Naji, director of the tourism center, said the center provides various investment and tourism opportunities for marketing Jeddah and upgrading national products.
The center particularly targets handicrafts and heritage products for which the Kingdom is distinctive. It meets the needs of Arab and foreign tourists who visit the Kingdom. The center will also attract more visitors to Jeddah. Naji added that the center is witnessing the strong participation of young men and women, who are proficient in handicrafts, side by side with Saudi businessmen and businesswomen. This will boost the confidence of the youth and hone their experience and place them at a new stage.
