Salalah Tourism Festival opens today- The Salalah Tourism Festival will kick off here today under the auspices of Sayyid Ali bin Hamoud al Busaidy, Minister of the Diwan of the Royal Court. The festival runs through till August 31.
Mohammed bin Omar al Rowas, General Supervisor of the Festival Administration, said that this year’s festival includes more than 500 events on different religious, cultural, sports, art and recreational fields.
A competition for wilayats will be held in the new theatre which can accommodate 3,000 people. The theatre is one of the new features of the Municipality Recreational Centre. Seventeen wilayats from different parts of the Sultanate will take part and display their cultural and traditional arts.
The festival will include 14 sports events and 20 events for children in the Child Village Theatre which can accommodate 700 people. The children’s play area has been provided with 28 games that meet the requirements of different age groups, he noted.
The Municipality Recreational Centre, which was set up on 200,000 square metres, has been equipped with improved service facilities this year.
Six halls will host about 25 environment, health, sports, agriculture, labour, scouting, embassies and fine art exhibitions.
The festival will also focus on promoting traffic awareness and limiting the number of road accidents through an exhibition being organised by the
Royal Oman Police in response to the Royal orders of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. Al Rowas said that the festival will also witness four poetry nights, a number of religious
lectures and art nights, about 40 art events, 12 singing parties (four of which will be staged at Al Morouj Theatre), more than 28 stage shows, five serials of ‘Samra’, two nights for Toyoor al Jannah troupe, one night for Karameesh children’s channel alongside a number of other events which are held for the first time in the Sultanate.
Fireworks display will be held on July 23, the blessed Renaissance Day, and the opening and concluding days of the festival, in addition to Sundays and Thursdays.
Over 50 events will be held outside the Municipality Recreational Centre, which will witness great turnout by tourists. These sites include Iteen Plain, Hamrir Plain, Al Mughsail beach, Al Hisn Market and the Wilayat of Mirbat.
He also pointed out that the festival provided 3,000 jobs and opened the door for a large number of craftsmen to display their products. The festival also seeks to attract major
industrial companies to promote their products at the centre, More than 12,000 square metres have been allocated for a big exhibition that attracts products from different parts of the world.
As many as 2,500 school students from the Dhofar Governorate, traditional troupes and the Omani Women’s Associations will take part in the opening ceremony of the festival. The ceremony includes nine tableaux, each of them reflecting the main features of Oman’s achievements. — ONA