They said they were ready to change the names as soon as possible, but are still completing legal procedures at the mayoralty and municipality so they can be issued with licenses for the new names. They urged city authorities to complete the procedures quickly.
Qassim Gharibi, manager of a wedding hall in Makkah, said he hoped the Makkah mayoralty would cooperate by changing the names without charging any fees. “We don’t want to pay for a decision imposed on us,” he added.
Yousuf Aqel, a Saudi, businessman also urged the mayoralty and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to implement the name change quickly.
“We don’t want to see routine procedures hampering our business,” he said.
Aqel, however, expressed his fears that the name change would affect business as customers identify with the old names.
Many citizens have welcomed the governor’s directive, saying they were not happy with foreign-sounding businesses and institutions along the Kingdom’s roads and streets. “When we see such names we get the feeling that we are in a foreign country,” one of them said.
An official source at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said a number of regulations would be discussed in order to implement the governor’s order, especially one related to trademarks.
According to the source, wedding halls come under the mayoralty or municipality’s jurisdiction and matters related to trademarks come under the ministry’s jurisdiction.
Prince Khaled ordered businesses to change foreign-sounding names while he was opening the third forum organized by the Literary and Cultural Club in Makkah on Saturday.
