DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s drive to promote cultural tourism in the Kingdom could receive a big boost with possible inclusion of its attractions in a UN list of “intangible heritage” assets that will be drawn up this week.
The UN’s educational, scientific and cultural organization (UNESCO) meets in South Korea this week to consider applications from member countries to be included on a list of cultural activities that represent the “intangible cultural heritage of humanity.”
Among the activities being considered is the Saudi art of elaborate interior wall paintings, Al-Qatt Al-Asin, traditionally done by women in the Kingdom and regarded as a method of promoting female solidarity.
The UNESCO committee meets once a year to decide which activities — some of which are in urgent need of safeguarding — to include in official listing. Among others seeking inclusion this year are the Italian art of pizza making, Irish pipe playing, and Azerbaijan dolma (stuffed vine leaves) making.
UNESCO approval “seeks to enhance visibility for the traditions and know-hows of communities without recognizing standards of excellence and exclusivity,” the organization said. The list was created in 2003 as a way of increasing awareness of the practices, and UNESCO occasionally gives financial and technical support to the cultural activities.
Cultural tourism has been identified as a growth sector in the Vision 2030 strategy to reduce the Kingdom’s dependence on oil.
Already, the Kingdom is the world leader in Islamic tourism, with $12 billion generated by the 10 million pilgrims who took part in Hajj and Umrah visits this year so far, according to official figures.
The Saudi government hopes to increase the number of pilgrims to 20 million by 2020, and to lift the number performing Umrah to 30 million by 2030.
The economic expansion program will encourage pilgrims to spend money at museums, resorts and historical sites, and Al-Qatt Al-Asin would fit into this plan.
Saudi Arabia already has several UNESCO-designated “World Heritage Sites”, including the historic city of Jeddah and the desert archaeological site of Mada’in Saleh. Cultural and Islamic tourism also feature in a wider plan to open up the Kingdom to foreign tourists and to encourage Saudis to spend their vacations — and their riyals — in the country rather than abroad.
The Red Sea Resort on the country’s western coast — with the endorsement of Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson, hopes to attract high-class and free-spending visitors to its leisure islands, and several other big resorts and theme parks are also planned.
Saudi UNESCO contender highlights cultural tourism drive in Kingdom
Saudi UNESCO contender highlights cultural tourism drive in Kingdom
Qatar CPI falls in January, annual inflation rises 2.28%
JEDDAH: Qatar’s consumer price index climbed 2.28 percent in January from a year earlier, official data showed, while registering a 2.22 percent drop from the previous month.
The decline from December was led by an 11.97 percent drop in recreation and culture prices, alongside decreases in miscellaneous goods and services, restaurants and hotels, clothing, food and housing-related costs, Qatar News Agency reported, citing data from the National Planning Council.
This was followed by miscellaneous goods and services at 3.46 percent, restaurants and hotels at 1.90 percent, clothing and footwear at 1.15 percent, food and beverages at 0.59 percent, and housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels at 0.17 percent.
Qatar’s inflation remains relatively contained compared with wider global price swings, helped by stable housing costs and government subsidies. Across the region, trends are mixed, with Saudi inflation easing to 1.8 percent in January while Egypt’s annual rate slowed to 10.1 percent even as monthly prices jumped.
“The annual increase, comparing January 2026 with the same month in 2025, was driven by rises in eight groups,” QNA reported, noting that the largest year-on-year increases were seen in miscellaneous goods and services, which rose 12.40 percent.
Price increases were observed in the transport group at 0.54 percent, followed by communication at 0.32 percent and health at 0.27 percent. Furniture and household equipment rose 0.20 percent and education edged up 0.06 percent, while tobacco recorded no change.
This was followed by recreation and culture at 4.90 percent and clothing and footwear at 3.25 percent. Food and beverages rose 2.87 percent, furniture and household equipment 2.37 percent, education 2.08 percent, housing and utilities 1.21 percent, and communication 0.40 percent.
In contrast, QNA further reported, three groups saw annual declines: restaurants and hotels, down 2 percent; health, down 1.38 percent; and transport, down 0.48 percent, while the tobacco group remained unchanged.
“When calculating the CPI for January 2026 excluding the housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels group, the index reached 114.57 points, down by 2.65 percent compared with December 2025, and up by 2.51 percent compared with January 2025,” the QNA report added.
The index — which tracks inflation across 12 main expenditure groups covering 737 goods and services — is based on 2018 as the reference year, drawing on the Household Income and Expenditure Survey conducted in 2017–2018.
