JEDDAH, 24 October 2006 — Hotels, amusement parks and tourism resorts in Jeddah are racing to grab a share of sales during the three days of Eid. Jeddah residents and visitors will be spending hundreds of millions of riyals during Eid holidays.
Authorities in the city have braced themselves to receive more than one million visitors at the beginning of Shawwal. It is estimated that half-a-million pilgrims of different nationalities have traveled from Madinah and Makkah to visit Jeddah.
According to the Jeddah municipality, the Corniche and tourism sites will receive more than 400,000 visitors including local Jeddah residents and visitors from other parts of the Kingdom. According to tourism officials and businessmen, it is expected that the total spending will increase to around SR650 million. Officials attribute the reason to pilgrims visiting Jeddah and the long vacation that people have had since Ramadan 18.
The Jeddah Traffic Department has deployed more than 600 police units and motorbikes, mostly located in the Corniche area, the roads leading to it and major shopping malls across the city. The traffic department says it is ready to face the expected huge traffic in the north and middle of Jeddah and that it will work on areas facing the most traffic congestion.
According to workers at an amusement park located on the Corniche, they expect a huge crowd of visitors from areas near Jeddah on the first and second day of Eid. The Jeddah amusement parks have added more activities to their programs to attract as many people as possible. The Jeddah municipality has specified large areas for residents at the Jeddah Corniche for residents to enjoy their time. Teams from the Ministry of Commerce are increasing their monitoring operation on sales centers to make sure prices remain stable.
Jeddah has good tourism features that would qualify the city to become one of the most important areas in the Kingdom. Attractions include North and South Obhur, the Jeddah Fountain and the central and old Balad area in downtown Jeddah. Jeddah is known for its history and there are plenty of historical places in downtown Jeddah like the Nassiff House, the Al-Shafie Mosque, the Abu Hanifa Mosque, the Al-Shaam neighborhood, Bab Makkah and the Al-Mazloum neighborhood.
