Madinah festival set for Saturday launch

MADINAH: Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, will launch “Madinah, the capital of Islamic Tourism 2017” festival on Saturday in King Fahd Central Park.
Spokesperson for the organizers of the event, Khalid Al-Shahrani, said the organizing committee has finalized preparations for hosting Madinah’s guests from all over the Islamic world. He said the countdown for the first-of-its-kind event in the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Al-Shahrani said the event will be attended by ministers, intellectuals, writers and media personalities. He said the festival will be shown live on large screens in certain Madinah areas, such as the Zuhoor alley in the King Fahd garden, the Hijra Road and Al-Rashed mall compound.
Al-Shahrani added that many activities and programs will be held with the launching of the event, which will attract more tourists to Madinah.
Waheeb Al-Sahli, the undersecretary of the Madinah Governorate and head of the Executive Committee of the “Madinah: Islamic Tourism capital” event, has overseen preparations for the inauguration event in King Fahd Central Park. Assisting are Munir bin Mohammed Nasser, director of the Madinah Branch of the Tourism and National Heritage, and Wafi Al-Qahtani, executive manager of the organizing company.
Over 700 people are employed to run the event.