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By FOUZIA KHAN
JEDDAH: More than 143,000 people visited the Jeddah Heritage Festival in Balad through late Saturday since starting March 29.
The Saudi Tourism Information and Research Center MAS recorded 130,582 visitors through Friday night, then an additional 13,000 on Saturday.
Abdullah Saeed bin Dhawi, chairman of the executive committee of the Jeddah Heritage Festival, said the festival will continue for 10 days with entertainment activities supported by the General Authority for Entertainment.
He also said the festival is popular among families as they introduced a special service for children if they should get lost, which is one of the main problems faced by families during their involvement in recreational activities.
To address the difficulty, festival management put nametag bracelets on children’s wrists with the complete information and mobile number of the parents as soon as they enter the site.
Ahmed Hamid Al-Sharif, supervisor of the activities, said the team of 60 young men and women tour guides at the site are taking care of the professional guidance for visitors, in addition to the preservation of children from getting lost. Management issued more than 2,200 bracelets to children.
Bin Dhawi said the organizing committee of the festival was keen to provide thr latest entertainment and activities for visitors and focus on presenting historical heritage information in a fun and entertaining way.
The festival’s activities varied from popular artwork to different shows, traditional food and historic houses transformed into museums.
About 65 different activities for the historical festival are planned to entertain visitors, including a historical panorama screenplay where the 2,600-year history of the city to the period of King Abdulaziz Al-Saud became a popular attraction.
The festival is open daily from 5-11 p.m.
© Arab News 2017
