JEDDAH: Prince Mesha'l Bin Majed, Governor of Jeddah, will serve as chairman of the Tourism Development Council in Jeddah along with ten members from the private sector and six public-sector appointees. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah, has approved the appointments for the second term of the council, which oversees execution of the city's tourism strategy. New members' specialties and expertise were considered to ensure they will be effective. Each member will be responsible for a dossier – with consideration of the coordination required, officials said. Only three members who represented the private sector have retained their positions and representatives of government organizations, although the organizations represented in the old council are represented in the new one. The Tourism Development Council in Jeddah was established in 2006. Its tasks include generating a general vision for the Jeddah tourism development plan with assessment of the city's tourism elements and capabilities, determining the priorities of tourism projects to include them in authorities' plans and budgets for developing the region, approving timetables for tourism projects and coordinating back-up services. The council also encourages the private sector to invest in tourism development and supports it through plans for diversifying investment and marketing, improving back-up services, providing qualified manpower and approving periodic tourist-activity reports. Representatives of the private sector as members are: Prince Abdullah Bin Saud, assigned to Marine Activities and Trip Organization; Dr. Ghassan Al-Sulaiman, assigned to Investment; Muhammad Al-Fadl, assigned to Travel Agencies; Ziyad Bin Mahfouz, assigned to Hotels and Beach Cabins; Saleh Naghi, assigned to Business Tourism; Anas Sayrafi, assigned to the Occasions and Activities; Mutasem Ali Ridha, assigned to Medical Tourism; Dr. Abduqader Naseer, assigned to the Studies and Marketing Offers; Mutaz Kaiyal, assigned to the Conferences, Exhibitions and Business; and Saleh Kamel, chairman of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Members from government agencies are: Dr. Hani Abu Ras, Mayor of Jeddah; Jeddah Director of Education Abdullah Al-Thaqafi; Jeddah Chief of Police General Ali Al-Ghamdi; Director of the Ministry of Trade branch in Jeddah Atiya Al-Zahrani; Commander of Border Guards in Jeddah Brig. Gen. Abdullah Al-Zaydi; and Executive Director of Tourism Development in Makkah Region Muhammad Al
