He made the remark during the launch of the tourism tent for craftsmen on Wednesday night.

The tent, covering an area of over 1,200 sq meters located in Obhur, northern Jeddah, contains assorted works of more than 30 craftsmen. It is part of the one-month long Makkah Youth Forum 2012, which was kicked off on March 27.

Al-Khudairi noted that the number of initial participants this year totalled around 300,000 men and women students coming from different intermediate and secondary schools located in the 11 areas of Makkah province.

He added that the 1,700 finalists would have to proceed through 20 different competitions including sports, recreation, science, education, culture, poetry, Qur’an recitation, innovation, photography, plastic arts, and wall painting.

“We chose to launch this tent here and not during the holidays, because we want everyone — especially students and adolescents — to get involved and take part in the events, at least as spectators,” Al-Khudairi commented.

He said the main goal of the tent is to shed lights on the chief touristic places in Makkah region by representing the traditions of such areas in the form of craft products made by local artisans and productive families. On his part, the executive director of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) in Makkah province confirmed that the youth forum had seen many achievements and successes, especially in the field of fostering local tourism.

Mohammad Al-Amri added that the SCTA would organize around 20 sightseeing trips for young male participants and another five trips for women, which will show them the most prominent and important tourist attractions in and around Jeddah.

“The Tourism Tent for Craftsmen is especially designed to inform the visitors in general and the competitors in particular about the traditional handcrafted products of the Hijaz area. In fact, this tent makes the entire forum a cultural and touristic venue for youngsters,” Al-Amri went on.

The opening ceremony of the tent saw an assortment of folkloric shows and Hijazi dances in addition to an array of artistic items and handmade crafts that are famous in Makkah province.

One of the most outstanding crafts on display is the pottery section. Salem Hassan, one of the 15 Saudi pottery craftsmen, told Arab News that he started to learn this profession at the hands of Sheikh Hussein Abu Laban, a late master of pottery who lived in Makkah. He added that they use an electric powered potter’s wheel to make the required piece. Usually, it takes him about 10 minutes to shape a piece, which is the first phase. Some big sizes are made in two sessions and take around one hour.

“After it has dried,” he continued, “we start with the second phase of coloring, using special colors called glaze.”

The third and last phase is oven baking, he said.

“Most of the pieces are made on demand by certain customers, and the prices start from SR400 and go up to SR3,000, depending on the size, ornaments, decoration and coloring,” the young potter ended.

Something that has stopped many visitors in the tent is the oldest reel movie projector traced back to more than 75 years.

These projectors were used to play movies in public squares of old neighborhoods in Jeddah, as no TV service was available at that time.