JEDDAH, 6 July 2003 — Investments totaling more than SR20 million for improving and expanding Mersal Village, the Kingdom’s biggest theme park, have been made for this year’s Jeddah Festival, said a Saudi businessman.
Speaking to the press on Thursday night, Haithem Naseer, the chief executive officer of Mersal Village, announced plans for a major expansion of the park and said that some $55 million had been invested, making it the biggest resort project in the Kingdom.
“Five years ago, we announced the establishment of Mersal Village. I said it would be a great asset to the Western Region and the rest of the Kingdom because of its potential for economic and tourist development. A million people have visited us since then and I am excited to see the theme park emerging as one of the region’s premier tourist attractions,” he said.
Naseer noted that this year during the Jeddah Festival, Mersal Village has an additional attraction for citizens and families who are allowed in with no increase in admission fees. He announced one of the park’s attractions this summer will be the biggest circus tent in the Middle East, accommodating 3,000 seats. The tent will be used by a group of famous Brazilian acrobats who are in the region for the first time.
“When completed, the new tent will add an exciting component to our existing inventory of rides and attractions,” he said. “A tent of this size and other entertaining games, cash rewards and our normal drawing power usually attract a large number of visitors. We hope to see as much as a 30 percent increase in the number of visitors during this summer season,” he added.
Naseer explained that in cooperation with MBC-FM, visitors will be eligible to win cash prizes worth SR3,000 every day, SR10,000 at the weekend and SR50,000 at the end of the month. The money will be awarded in various contests conducted by famous radio personalities inside the theme park.
