NEW DELHI: Saudi tourism authorities are prioritizing the promotion of cultural and heritage sites among travelers from India, as they set out to attract millions of Indian visitors in coming years.
Tourism is a booming sector in the Kingdom under its Vision 2030 diversification plan. A key part of the vision is to position Saudi Arabia as a dynamic, diverse, year-round tourism destination and market that will contribute 10 percent to gross domestic product by 2030.
In the past two years, India has emerged as Saudi Arabia’s key tourism source market, and the Saudi Tourism Authority expects it to become the largest one in the next few years.
Since February, the STA has been intensifying its promotional efforts across India with events showcasing the Kingdom’s historical sights and futuristic projects. It also signed a partnership agreement with the Indian Premier League, the world’s most-watched T20 cricket franchise, to tap into a strong sports fanbase for promotion.
“Our goal is to connect and build affinity between Indian visitors and Saudi, to increase awareness of the incredible destination and what we have to offer the Indian market,” Alhasan Al-Dabbagh, the STA’s chief for Asia Pacific, told Arab News earlier this week.
Initially, the agency is targeting tourists exploring cultural and heritage sites, which are rapidly increasing in number with archaeological works in full swing and development of leisure infrastructure.
“Saudi has rich cultural and historical sites. It is home to six UNESCO World Heritage sites and over 10,000 archaeological sites waiting to be discovered,” Al-Dabbagh said.
He gave as examples Jeddah’s Al-Balad old town; Diriyah, the original home of the Saudi royal family; and Al-Ula in the country’s northwest, a walled city founded in the sixth century B.C. on the historic incense route that linked India and the Gulf to the Levant and Europe.
The second target group is travelers from the “visiting friends and relatives,” or VFR, category. The latter accounts for 27 percent of visits, as about 2.5 million Indians live and work in the Kingdom.
“Last year, we welcomed 1 million Indian visitors who had the highest spent across all our source markets globally due to the VFR segment. This year our aim is to double our visitation numbers to 2 million,” Al-Dabbagh said.
“We have already welcomed 400,000 Indian travelers during the first quarter of this year and by 2030 our ambition is to reach over 12 million Indian visitors.”
The number of direct flights from India to Saudi Arabia will increase from the current 243 a week to 290 after Eid Al-Adha to attract visitors for summer vacations, he added.
“The Saudi Tourism Authority has officially launched its seasonal campaign, Rethink Summer, aimed at promoting the country as a diverse, unique summer destination,” Al-Dabbagh said.
“From the scenic mountains of Taif to the beaches in Jeddah and the coast of the Red Sea as well as a packed entertainment calendar, there is something for all visitors to enjoy.”
Promotional efforts and initiatives to ease access are already yielding results, with Indians showing more interest in Saudi Arabia.
“People are becoming aware of the opening of a new destination with easy access, and liberal policies with various branding and marketing aspects,” Travel Agents Association of India President Jyoti Maya told Arab News.
She said that heritage and culture are strong factors in tourism promotion, which was likely to have an appeal among Indians.
“A country which itself is rich in heritage and culture and has strong roots will intrigue its people to explore many more countries with such similar strong ties and traditions. Tourism is always about experiences, gaining knowledge, and learning,” Maya said.
“Saudi tourism promoting cultural sites would certainly boost tourism in the long run.”
Saudi tourism banks on culture, heritage sites to draw Indian visitors
https://arab.news/gfck4
Saudi tourism banks on culture, heritage sites to draw Indian visitors
- More flights to Saudi Arabia from India expected after Eid Al-Adha
- India is emerging as Kingdom’s key tourism source market
Ex-CNN journalist Don Lemon pleads not guilty to Minnesota protest charges
- A magistrate judge ordered Lemon released to await trial, after a night in custody following his arrest late on Thursday by the FBI
LOS ANGELES: Former CNN news anchor Don Lemon entered a not guilty plea on Friday to federal charges over his role covering a protest at a Minnesota church against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, the Republican administration’s latest move against a critic.
Lemon, now an independent journalist, livestreamed a protest against Trump’s deployment of thousands of armed immigration agents into Democratic-governed Minnesota’s biggest cities. The protest disrupted a January 18 service at Cities Church in St. Paul.
A magistrate judge ordered Lemon released to await trial, after a night in custody following his arrest late on Thursday by the FBI.
Dressed in a cream-colored double-breasted suit, Lemon spoke only to say “yes, your honor” when asked if he understood the proceedings. One of his attorneys said that he pleaded not guilty.
“He is committed to fighting this. He’s not going anywhere,” said Lemon attorney Marilyn Bednarski.
“I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,” Lemon told reporters after the hearing. “I will not be silenced. I look forward to my day in court.”
A grand jury indictment charged Lemon, who is Black, with conspiring to deprive others of their civil rights and violating a law that has been used to crack down on demonstrations at abortion clinics but also forbids obstructing access to houses of worship. Six other people who were at the protest, including another journalist, are facing the same charges.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Minneapolis and other US cities on Friday to denounce an immigration crackdown in which federal agents fatally shot two US citizens, sparking one of the most serious political crises Trump has faced.
PRESS ADVOCATES ALARMED
Free press advocates voiced alarm over the arrests. Actor and activist Jane Fonda went to show support for Lemon, telling journalists the president was violating the Constitution. “They arrested the wrong Don,” Fonda said.
Trump, who has castigated the protesters in Minnesota, blamed the Cities Church protest on “agitators and insurrectionists” who he said wanted to intimidate Christian worshippers.
Organizers told Lemon they focused on the church because they believed a pastor there was also a senior US Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee.
More than a week ago, the government arrested three people it said organized the protests. But the magistrate judge in St. Paul who approved those arrests ruled that, without a grand jury indictment, there was not probable cause to issue arrest warrants for Lemon and several others the Justice Department also wanted to prosecute.
“This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand,” Abbe Lowell, Lemon’s lawyer, said in a statement, invoking constitutional free speech protections.
In the livestream archived on his YouTube channel, Lemon can be seen meeting with and interviewing the activists before they go to the church, and later chronicling the disruption inside, interviewing congregants, protesters and a pastor, who asks Lemon and the protesters to leave.
Independent local journalist Georgia Fort and two others who had been at the church were also arrested and charged with the same crimes.
US Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster on Friday ordered Fort’s release, denying prosecutors’ request to hold her in custody, according to court documents.
TRUMP CRITICS TARGETED
The Justice Department over the past year has tried to prosecute a succession of Trump’s critics and perceived enemies. Its charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who both led investigations into Trump, were thrown out by a judge.
Lemon spent 17 years at CNN, becoming one of its most recognizable personalities, and frequently criticizes Trump in his YouTube broadcasts. Lemon was fired by CNN in 2023 after making sexist on-air comments for which he later apologized.
Trump frequently lambastes journalists and news outlets, going further than his predecessors by sometimes suing them for damages or stripping them of access-granting credentials.
FBI agents with a search warrant seized laptops and other devices this month from the home of a Washington Post reporter who has covered Trump’s firing of federal workers, saying it was investigating leaks of government secrets.
Press advocates called the FBI search involving the Post reporter and the arrests of Lemon and Fort an escalation of attacks on press freedom.
“Reporting on protests isn’t a crime,” said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute. Jaffer called the arrests alarming, and said Trump sought “to tighten the vise around press freedom.”
Trump has said his attacks are because he is tired of “fake news” and hostile coverage.
Legal experts said they were unaware of any US precedent for journalists being arrested after the fact, or under the two laws used to charge Lemon and Fort. They include the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 measure that prevents obstructing access to abortion clinics and places of worship.
