“Haiya Jeddah” (Come to Jeddah). The 2nd Jeddah festival, will be held through Jan. 9-Feb. 7 this year, the official announcement of which was made by Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) at a press conference in Jeddah on Sunday.
As the festival will be held in cooperation and support of retail and tourism sectors, a ceremony signing contracts with the participants and businessmen also took place on Sunday at the premises of JCCI.
The festival aims to enhance tourism and business of the port city locally and regionally, and is expected to draw about 1.5 million visitors.
“With the launch of this 2nd Jeddah shopping festival we are expecting 1.5 million visitors from the Kingdom as also from Gulf countries,” said Mazen bin Mohammed Batterjee, the vice chairman at JCCI.
Speaking about the first festival, Mr. Mazen said it was very successful as it had one million visitors then and hoped more visitors this year “due to the timings of the inauguration of the new site of Corniche helped by the spring break when the weather will be also favorable.”
Tourists visiting Jeddah this year will enjoy more, he said.
The JCCI, according to him, is targeting the Saudis as well as the people from the Gulf region. Jeddah will serve them for multi-purpose activities.
He said that with the participation of six major malls and a number of companies and shopping stores, visitors will find numerous activities as theater, entrainment programs, fireworks, artistic performance, contests, competitions, games and a large discounted sale.
The annual fair will bring in great opportunities too for good investment in Jeddah, as the city is the commercial hub of the country, he said.
Many gifts on the occasion will be distributed that will include six cars and more than 20,000 other gifts that will be given out every day at different locations, he told the media.
“At JCCI we are helping and pushing for the new trends, festivals and entertainment with shopping and cultural activities. The Jeddah municipality, health sector, and Jeddah traffic department are with us in helping and supporting for a smooth and successful festival,” he said.
JCCI General Secretary Adnan bin Husain Mandoura said the festival, combined with the opening of new North Corniche, will bring a new wave of enjoyment in the western region. The North Corniche has been refurbished with facilities meeting international standards of family tourism.
The month-long festival will be a great seasonal occasion for shopping, entrainment, hotels, resorts, tourists and business, the different activities will take place in major shopping malls, and on Corniche throughout the month,” said Mandoura.
“We are grateful for the cooperation of our stake holders, and with the new look of the Western Jeddah we are expecting it to be a more successful, which will set a new record,” he added.
He also said that the main focus of this spring break festival will be to make Jeddah the first and foremost shopping destination.
Ibrahim Dahlan, the deputy general secretary, said that retail sales last year grew to 70 percent, and this year with the participation of 2,000 shops and six malls the fair is expecting to have a bigger sale.
Dahlan also said that JCCI will try to organize more festival with the cooperation of Supreme Commission for Tourism to promote domestic tourism, as festivals will be held on Eid-ul-fitr and Haj holidays.
Visitors can log on Jeddah festival website for festival information and activities; the information will also be available on twitter, facebook and YouTube.