RIYADH, 7 January — Prince Sultan ibn Salman, secretary-general of the Supreme Commission of Tourism (SCT), said here last night that the commission was currently collecting data on the various tourist attractions of the Kingdom, an exercise that will help those involved in the industry to evaluate tourism potential and identify tourist sites that need to be developed.
Prince Sultan, while speaking after formally opening the first major tourism exhibition at the Riyadh Exhibition Center, said that the SCT will take all necessary steps to promote tourism in the Kingdom by removing the obstacles facing the industry. He said that the SCT is also studying the experience of several countries which have been generating substantial income from tourism.
The move is significant since the total spending of Saudi tourists exceeds $17 billion annually but only 27 percent of this amount was spent on tourism inside the Kingdom.
The Kingdom has over 10,000 locations with tourism potential in terms of cultural, archaeological or historical importance.
The SCT recently signed an agreement with King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology for making use of its satellite imagery and remote sensing capabilities for producing a tourism map. The agreement will help tap the tourism potential of these spots as there would be close cooperation and coordination between the two organizations.
Under the agreement, KACST will provide the commission with satellite images obtained from SPOT, IRS and Radarsat satellites. It will also train the SCT staff to analyze the images using remote sensing technology.
Further, there will be an exchange of information for developing a database, which could then be placed on the Internet.
The opening of the tourism expo coincided with the opening of "The Globe Restaurant" and "The Experience Observation Gallery", built at a height of 240 meters from ground level at Al-Faisaliah Complex.
These two major tourist attractions, to be opened for general public from Jan. 9, will be formally inaugurated by Prince Sultan tomorrow. Referring to the opening of the Globe to the general public, Alphy L. Johnson, regional vice president for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, said the Globe sits on the top of Al-Faisaliah Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the region. Johnson, and Gert Friedrich Kopera, manager of Al-Faisaliah Hotel, said the Globe Restaurant has the capacity to accommodate 88 people at a time.
Johnson and Kopera further said that the Experience is a public observation platform set beneath the Globe Restaurant offering full view of the capital city stretching over 60 kilometers in all directions.
"In addition to a 365 degree viewing platform, the Experience has sky-high shopping facilities and every visitor to this facility will receive a unique gift to mark his/her journey to the top of the Kingdom’s finest landmark," they said.
The Globe and the Experience, they said, are part of the prestigious Al-Faisaliah Center & Tower Complex, which has been described as "a city within a city" combining a five-star hotel, 100 full service apartments, conference and banqueting facilities with a capacity of 4,000 guests and a huge shopping mall.
A project of King Faisal Foundation, Al-Faisaliah Tower is taller than Canary Warf, the UK’s highest building.
