RIYADH: Riyadh Food Festival slated to be held from Feb. 4 to 10 will promote Saudi tourism among national, regional and international visitors to Riyadh, said Abdul Rahman Al-Jassas, Executive Director Riyadh Province Tourism Office (PTO), Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), which is promoting the weeklong event. Al-Jassas said the unique part of the tourism activity during the Riyadh Food Festival will be to focus on international themes by incorporating a host of cultural activities that reflect Saudi Arabia as a part of world tourism. He said that 11 hotels have confirmed their participation in the food festival and have offered to organize a number of cultural activities. “Each hotel will have the option of presenting different cultural themes. For instance, if a hotel wants to organize a Chinese or Italian food night, the event should highlight the cultures of those countries,” he said. Al-Jassas said the basic aim of the Riyadh Food Festival is to impress upon international visitors that Saudi Arabia is a country that promotes intercultural understanding between various civilizations. A number of hotels have invited chefs with international culinary reputations to present a unique dining experience to visitors during the festival period, Al-Jassas said. He underscored the significance of the Riyadh Food Festival saying the participating hotels would seek to provide a cultural dining experience to visitors by offering tastes of the world's different cuisines in a traditional environment associated with the culture of the food served. The hotels would also have the option of organizing a number of entertainment events to enhance the dining experience. “During the festival visitors will have an opportunity to meet famous national and international chefs, as the hotels will also organize food seminars,” he said. ?Al-Jassas said that the number of visitors to Riyadh from within and outside Saudi Arabia usually increases during the mid-year school vacation in Saudi Arabia. “We want to make the mid-year vacation a different holiday experience and portray Riyadh as one of the world's most attractive cities,” he said. Meanwhile, the SCTA Steering Committee is organizing a marketing campaign to ensure that the Riyadh Food Festival is a success. Members of the Steering Committee have met to review the plans for the activities prepared by the participating hotels. The meeting headed by Hamad Al-Sheikh, Head of Programs and Product Section, and attended by representatives of participating hotels discussed a number of issues pertaining to the festival. Al-Sheikh said that the basic SCTA objective in holding the festival is to promote Riyadh as a tourist destination. “The festival programs and their locations will be announced within the next few days,” he said.
