JEDDAH, 30 September 2007 — Organizing iftar parties is no more an exclusive family occasion. It has become an annual event for the corporate world in Jeddah to promote its business interests. Large companies and businessmen organize grand iftar parties for their staff and clients in luxury hotels and restaurants.
Leading hotels arrange a separate area to hold iftar parties. There are also businessmen who hold their iftar parties at their palaces or luxury villas.
A source at a top hotel in Jeddah told Arab News that 80 percent of the Ramadan tent reservations were by companies and other organizations while family reservations accounted for less than 20 percent. The source added that most of the iftar parties were held during the first 20 days of the holy month.
Lotfi Gabo, sales manager at the Crowne Plaza, a five-star chain in Jeddah, said his hotel has been setting up Ramadan tents over the past 10 years. Most of the top hotels in Jeddah are doing the same, he added.
Hamdi Abu Zayd, restaurant manager at the Green Island Restaurant in Jeddah, said the guests to the Ramadan tents in his restaurant come not only from Jeddah but also from various companies and establishments in Makkah and Taif.
Muhammad Al-Rifaie of a leading hotel in Jeddah said: “The hotels in the city are competing to attract clients to their Ramadan tents by organizing various contests with expensive prizes ranging between cars, air tickets and perfumes.”
Muhammad Aboudi Al-Amoudi, who manages the Jeddah Intercontinental, said the Ramadan tents have become a regular feature of the holy month. He said his hotel used to allocate large space for the iftar programs and supply dishes of various nationalities.
“The Ramadan tents offer an opportunity for the meeting of various company officials. In large families it is an occasion for meeting of the relatives and thus the parties serve as an occasion for strengthening the ties of kinship, a major point stressed by Islam,” Al-Amoudi said.
Abdul Khaleq Saeed, a leading businessman and member of the board of directors of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said iftar parties in Ramadan provide the opportunity for the businessmen and people representing various spheres of life to meet. He said he used to hold iftar parties for diplomats of Arab and Muslim countries, businessmen and officials every year.
Abdullah Mara Bin-Mahfouz, member of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said his father used to hold iftar parties for Muslim dignitaries visiting Makkah during Ramadan.
