Through its ups and downs, this city has always been a song on the tongues of those who loved it, a piece of soft melody, both charming and refreshing. A lot of memories have been born at its Corniche, love pacts have been sealed between its historical passageways, and laughter of its residents has always lighted up the skies. The city I am talking about is a city of its own kind, a city named Jeddah.
During these days, for the second consecutive year, Jeddah is hosting its heritage festival (themed under the title: We were living like this). Jeddah has never been out of the local touristic scene. Besides being the gateway to the holy lands, it has always been the destination of choice for a lot of local and GCC families. For them, it is where fun, family, and history all come together. Betting on all of that, the officials of the city and the Saudi Commission of Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) are working hard to promote the new and uplifted face of the city. Whether a resident or a visitor, you should have noticed that many changes have found its way to the city in the past few years, changing a lot of its features. Bridges, underpasses, new buildings, public areas, and a number of new attractions; tons of projects completed, tons of others on the way to completion.
Despite all those efforts, we may want to ask ourselves, has the city fulfilled its full potential as an international tourism destination? I am going to take the negative in that argument, the city is yet to reach its full potential as a touristic destination.
The fever of this school-break festivals that is sweeping the country is falling into the trap of repetition, and sometimes, overblown hype. Although the second heritage festival in Jeddah has just started few days ago, you can tell from its program that it is offering nothing new compared to the last season, actually, compared to the usual activities that take place in Al-Balad. It is the same kind of food, the same kind of shops, the same folk dances, the repeated simple photography galleries, and the same comedy club shows (it happens to be the only one in the city anyway). This same theme is repeated throughout the year in Jeddah, the name could be different but the contents are the same.
A closer look into all of this, with giving the rapid change in the city its due consideration, the city still lacks on so many touristic fronts.
Family entertainment is almost exclusive to food and shopping. There are no theme parks (I won’t even count the ones that do exist, they are embarrassingly outdated), there are no public gardens, and the access to the waterfront and Corniche is a heated debate at the moment between the city officials and the investors who are blocking the coast with their overpriced and below standard services outlets.
Let us talk culture, a city with a rich history like Jeddah has no world-class museum, has no public theater and almost no public activities related to books or publishing of any kind.
Now imagine Jeddah, or any other Saudi city for that matter, with such variety of activities and entertainment tastes available; that would be a true tourism transformation in the country compared to the mere marketing and polishing efforts.
Along with the infrastructure of roads and bridges and trains, maybe we should also think of a total shuffle in the entertainment and cultural landscape of our cities. New infrastructure is needed so people can live in a city; other entrainment and cultural outlets are needed so people can breath in that city.
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@smaldosari
