Saudi Arabia launches transit visa service for passengers on stopovers

Hajj pilgrims go through passport control upon their arrival at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah. (File/AFP)
Hajj pilgrims go through passport control upon their arrival at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah. (File/AFP)
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Updated 31 January 2023

Saudi Arabia launches transit visa service for passengers on stopovers

Pilgrims go through passport control upon their arrival at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. (File/AFP)
  • The visa is free of charge, entitles the holder to a four-day stay in the Kingdom, and has three-month validity
  • The transit visa for stopovers allows entry to Saudi Arabia for tourism and pilgrimage purposes

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Foreign ministry launched on Monday an electronic service that will allow passengers stopping over in the Kingdom to obtain an entry visa.

The transit visa for stopovers allows entry to Saudi Arabia for people in transit who wish to perform Umrah, visit the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, and tour the Kingdom.

The stopover visa will allow passengers to stay in the country for up to 96 hours, enabling more visitors than ever to explore Saudi’s incomparable historical, cultural, and spiritual sites.

The new service will be effective as of Monday, and passengers can apply for a transit visa through the electronic platforms of Saudia Airlines and Flynas.

The application will be automatically passed on to the unified national visa platform at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to process. A digital visa will be issued instantly and sent back to the beneficiary via e-mail.

The ministry said the e-Transit visa for stopovers will contribute to achieving the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 by bolstering its position and benefiting from its distinguished strategic location as a link between continents as well as reaching 100 million visits annually.

The visa is free of charge, will be immediately issued with the traveler’s ticket, entitles the holder to a four-day stay in the Kingdom, and has three-month validity.

To help visitors make the most of their stopover, custom 24, 48, 72 and 96-hour itineraries have been developed to inspire visitors to stroll through Jeddah’s Al-Balad, or visit the Al-Turaif district in Diriyah, one of Saudi’s six UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

“The new stopover Visa is yet another proof point in Saudi’s commitment to developing and encouraging growth in the tourism sector,” Ahmed Al-Khateeb, tourism minister and chairman of the board at the Saudi Tourism Authority said. 

“It is open for travelers passing through Saudi on our national carriers whether for leisure, business or Umrah, we will continue to work together across government and the tourism ecosystem as Saudi transforms into a leading global tourism destination,” he added.

Meanwhile, Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO at Saudi Tourism Authority said: “Today's announcement of Saudi’s inaugural stopover visa is a landmark example of integrated public and private sector cooperation, four of the Top Ten global routes were in or out of Saudi airports in 2022, a testament to the appeal of destination Saudi.”

The chief executive officers of SAUDIA and flynas also said the visa was a milestone toward turning the Kingdom into a key hub between east and west.

“It is a testament to SAUDIA’s commitment to support the Kingdom’s strategic goal of reaching 100 million visits by 2030 and we are confident it will positively impact the growing number of transit passengers while enhancing our position as a hub that connects East and West,” ‏Captain Ibrahim Koshy at SAUDIA said. 

 

“The new service will also encourage passengers to perform Umrah, visit key destinations and attend events and Saudi seasons,” he added.

Bandar Almohanna, who is also managing director at flynas, also said: “Today, flynas is proud to be a part of this ecosystem that has enabled Saudi’s national carriers to facilitate the issuance of the new stopover visa, this is a welcome development that eases and speeds up the process for our passengers who wish to stop in Saudi for up to 96 hours on the way to their final destination.”


Hollywood scriptwriter participates in Qur’an recitation contest

Hollywood scriptwriter participates in Qur’an recitation contest
Updated 26 March 2023

Hollywood scriptwriter participates in Qur’an recitation contest

Hollywood scriptwriter participates in Qur’an recitation contest
  • Palestinian-American Yasser Omar Shaheen wows viewers with melodic voice, distinctive recitation

RIYADH: Palestinian-American contestant Yasser Omar Shaheen, a Hollywood film and television scriptwriter, was a participant in the latest episode of the international Qur’an recitation and adhan competition.

Shaheen entertained the viewers with his melodic voice and distinctive recitation of the Qur’an.

The “Otr Elkalam” TV show, which is being supervised by the General Entertainment Authority and is broadcast on MBC1 and the Shahid digital platform, has a total prize pool of SR12 million ($3.2 million).

Shaheen said: “My life is a mixture of memorizing and reciting the Holy Qur’an and writing scripts in Hollywood, where I have supervised the production of more than 130 programs, produced 14 documentaries, and contributed to several shows on TV channels of Arab and Islamic countries.”

He enjoys teaching Muslim children the verses of the Qur’an and the rules of intonation in mosques in Dallas, Texas. Shaheen also works as a faculty member at San Jose University in California.

Several competitions resulted in his participation in “Otr Elkalam” and its first episode featured 32 contestants from around the world.

It also focused on last year’s winners of the Qur’an recitation and adhan competitions, Younes Gharbi from Morocco and Mohsen Kara of Turkiye, respectively.

The “Otr Elkalam” competition is designed to highlight the rich diversity of cultures in the Islamic world, and the vocal methods of reciting the Qur’an and raising the call to prayer.

More than 50,000 entrants from 165 countries were whittled down to 50 for the final stage, which is held in Riyadh.

Another selection process by the main jury then left 32 contestants, 16 for each competition.


Finding treasures at the Islamic Arts Biennale’s Al-Matjar in Jeddah

Finding treasures at the Islamic Arts Biennale’s Al-Matjar in Jeddah
Updated 26 March 2023

Finding treasures at the Islamic Arts Biennale’s Al-Matjar in Jeddah

Finding treasures at the Islamic Arts Biennale’s Al-Matjar in Jeddah
  • Sustainability key to the concept store; more than 620 rare, custom-made items on display

JEDDAH: Visitors to the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah can pick up Ramadan-themed items and intricate works of art at the on-site Al-Matjar concept store, a retail space developed by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation.  

“The biennale store is never, ever the same. We change it every week. The only constant is that you’ll see is the Diriyah Foundation merchandise,” Dalia Al Akki, the store representative, told Arab News.

According to Al Akki, the DBF hopes the shop can become one of Jeddah’s new cultural destinations. It aims to have something for everyone — and allow them to take a bit of the Biennale’s “Awwal Bait” (First House) theme back home with them.

“The idea of this collaboration is that the Diriyah Foundation wants to open a platform to support digital artists. It’s like a marketing tool for us to use their illustrations and create merch with them, or stationery, or puzzles,” she said. “We didn’t want to just do merchandise this year; we wanted to really enhance this idea of collaboration.”

Since the biennale is a temporary exhibition, the idea was to create tangible items that people can take back home with them.

The Islamic Arts Biennale store in Jeddah features a wide range of themed and customized products that visitors can buy as mementos. (Photos by Diriyah Biennale Foundation)

After thorough research, they reached out to around 180 brands, of which 95 made it to the shelves. Since the DBF is a non-profit organization, it was obligated to use the space as a launching pad for brands and to cultivate creativity.

“Some of these items are very rare and very beautiful, and soon they’ll be collectible,” Al Akki said proudly.

HIGHLIGHT

The store prioritizes collaborating with brands that focus on sustainability, and many of the over 620 items are rare and custom-made. According to Dalia Al Akki, every item in the store will be reused, including the wayfinding flags that will be repurposed into tote bags later.

It was always meant to be a pop-up shop, which is perhaps part of the allure. If you like something, pick it up and buy it instantly or it might be gone. Maybe forever. Many items were custom-made for the shop and won’t ever be sold anywhere else.

The galag garage exclusive capsule collection created in collaboration with the Diriyah Biennale Foundation. (Photo/Instagram/ @galag.co)

There’s one section that is distinctly pre-owned. It is dedicated to selling secondhand books and Al Akki hopes this will help shift people’s perception of pre-owned and think of it as ‘pre-loved.’

“We know a guy that collects books from all over the region, so we really wanted to add that in,” she explained. “A lot of artists actually just buy books and end up throwing them. A lot of people in the Kingdom don’t know the value of these books. But for us, secondhand books are still valuable. We even have vintage magazines.”

She said that she has been surprised by the popularity of the secondhand books and have had to replenish their stocks.

The Islamic Arts Biennale store in Jeddah features a wide range of themed and customized products that visitors can buy as mementos. (Photos by Diriyah Biennale Foundation)

“We also work with a lot of product makers (who focus on) sustainability. Nothing in the store is going to be thrown away; everything is going to be reused — even the wayfinding flags; we are actually taking them and making tote bags out of them for next year,” she said. “We are supporting local and international artists and sustainability is a main goal.”

It was crucial for the curation of the products to be inclusive of different countries and styles, as well as price ranges, and to provide something that non-Muslims could buy too.

“What’s amazing about the whole idea of this pop-up store is that we really get to know the community — beyond the Kingdom. We can’t wait for the (next Biennale cycle) because there’s so many places you could go. I mean, this was limited, challenging, but definitely worth it,” Al Akki said. “We’ve learned, we’ve grown, we’ve met many beautiful people along the way.”

The Islamic Arts Biennale store in Jeddah features a wide range of themed and customized products that visitors can buy as mementos. (Photos by Diriyah Biennale Foundation)

One of those people is Sultan bin Mohammed, the shy-but-charming millennial leader of the Galag Garage clothing brand (Galag translates to “nuisance”).

He was proud to take part in this pop-up store in his hometown of Jeddah and is shaking up the shop — one stitch at a time.

The filmmaker and entrepreneur showed Arab News his exclusive capsule Galag collection, created in collaboration with the Diriyah Biennale Foundation store. Rows of durable-but-soft hoodies, t-shirts, tote bags and caps with the word “Galag” written in Arabic using the custom biennale font and typography.

“They (Diriyah Biennale Foundation) wanted really to represent the structures in the Hajj terminal. So I wanted to recreate that, but give a bit of a retro-wave design,” he told Arab News.

He also added elements that are distinctly ‘Galag,’ such as images of vintage cars.

“We wanted something that’s wearable, has a bit of style, has a bit of weight to it — something that people would be happy and comfortable with. We decided to do very simple but high-quality material with interesting colors,” bin Mohammed told Arab News.

Most of those color inspirations were derived from local nature. The sandy hoodie has a bit of saturated blue that pops — meant to represent the sky. The white hoodie, in contrast, was meant to be muted.

“Every color choice here is meant to look better with age; so the longer we wear it, the better it looks — that was the concept,” he said.

Like Al Akki, bin Mohammed was adamant that he wanted to produce something that would last.

“Sustainability is a huge thing. We really wanted to use something that lasts — something that you can wear for years, maybe put in your closet then bring it out and it still keeps its shape; it keeps the quality and it doesn’t disintegrate,” bin Mohammed said.

He was also keen to have the date incorporated into the t-shirts. “It’s the first Islamic Arts Biennale and to have the date on it to commemorate it was really important. I think it’s really cool to have a piece of history. It’s great that we’re a small part of that,” said bin Mohammed.

 


Saudi Arabia marks earth hour by turning off street, tower lights

Saudi Arabia marks earth hour by turning off street, tower lights
Updated 54 min 10 sec ago

Saudi Arabia marks earth hour by turning off street, tower lights

Saudi Arabia marks earth hour by turning off street, tower lights

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia on Saturday participated in Earth Hour, the largest environmental event in the world, by urging all sects of society, in all regions, governorates and their affiliated centers, as well as various governmental and private agencies to take the initiative to mark the event by turning off the public street lights without harm to public safety.

Ajlan Al-Ajlan, the head of Saudi Earth Hour, said that the Kingdom participates with the world in this great environmental event and is in solidarity with all efforts aimed at sustaining and protecting the ecosystem, by turning off the lights of some streets and towers in various parts of the regions and governorates, for a period of one hour, starting from 8:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m..

Al-Ajlan called on all members of society to preserve the environment from everything that negatively affects it and human life by avoiding bad practices, which generate serious complications, such as pollution and the spread of diseases and epidemics.

The Saudi Vision 2030 adopts a comprehensive plan to preserve the environment and protect the planet, which stimulates interaction with one of the largest environmental events, and the world’s participation in Earth Hour.


Saudi Arabia’s KSrelief calls for strengthening efforts to combat mines

Saudi Arabia’s KSrelief calls for strengthening efforts to combat mines
Updated 26 March 2023

Saudi Arabia’s KSrelief calls for strengthening efforts to combat mines

Saudi Arabia’s KSrelief calls for strengthening efforts to combat mines

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s aid agency on Saturday called for strengthening efforts to combat mines, protecting lives, building the capabilities of workers in this field in the affected countries, and alleviating the suffering of those affected, the Saudi Press Agency reported. 

The comments were made by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center as it participated with the international community and UN and international organizations in raising awareness of the dangers of mines to mark International Day for Mine Awareness.

As part of its efforts in various countries around the world, KSrelief was keen to cover all vital sectors in the humanitarian field to include education, health, shelter, water and other important sectors. 

It also implemented huge qualitative humanitarian programs that contributed to positive results in the field of humanitarian work, including the “Masam” project to clear Yemeni lands of mines, and the prosthetic limbs program, which contributed to protect hundreds of thousands of lives in Yemen. 

Despite the dangers they face, the teams of the “Masam” project managed to extract nearly 400,000 mines of all shapes, types and sizes in various Yemeni regions since the launch of the project in 2018 until mid-March 2023.

The prosthetic limb centers also provided more than 142,000 services, including the installation of prostheses, and cases of technical and physical rehabilitation (physical and psychological treatment) for the injured in order for them to be productive people, able to work and lead their normal lives. 

45,588 individuals benefited from them in the governorates of Taiz, Aden, Marib and Sayun from Jan. 1, 2020 to Feb. 28, 2023.


Saudi Arabia condemns Israel’s bid to build over 1,000 settlements in West Bank

Saudi Arabia condemns Israel’s bid to build over 1,000 settlements in West Bank
Updated 26 March 2023

Saudi Arabia condemns Israel’s bid to build over 1,000 settlements in West Bank

Saudi Arabia condemns Israel’s bid to build over 1,000 settlements in West Bank

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Saturday condemnation a decision by the Israeli occupation authorities to publish bids to build settlement units during the current week inside the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs “expressed the Kingdom’s denunciation of this decision, which is a continuation of the flagrant violations committed by the occupation authorities,” it said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government has authorized construction bids for more than 1,000 new homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The move comes days after the Knesset voted to annul part of a law banning Israelis from living in areas of the occupied West Bank evacuated in 2005.
Saudi Arabia called on the international community to assume its responsibilities to end the Israeli occupation and stop its provocative practices, which would obstruct the paths of political solutions and undermine international peace efforts.