King Salman

:: King Salman will patronize the inaugural ceremony for the restoration of the Tarif historical district on Sunday.

It is part of a program aimed at the development of the ancient Ad Diriyah city.

Visiting Gulf Cooperation Council dignitaries and top Saudi officials will attend the ceremony.

The Saudi authorities are making all-out efforts to restore and develop the ancient Ad Diriyah city so as to transform it into a tourist and cultural hub.

In a bid to end reliance on oil, the Kingdom is investing in tourism, aiming to increase spending by Saudis at home instead of on holidays abroad.

Encouraging visits to local places of beauty or interest is a key Vision 2030 goal and the Kingdom has some world-class sites, some in remote areas, which are all but unknown outside the Kingdom.

In November, the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) added 19 new archaeological sites to the National Antiquities Register.

The new sites belong to the pre-Islamic and early Islam eras and were found in three provinces including Bisha, Tathlith, and Balqarn.

The SCTH’s efforts to register heritage and archaeological sites to the Urban Heritage list fall under the Kingdom’s Cultural Heritage Care program that includes a system of projects and programs to develop, highlight and preserve national heritage sites.

The SCTH also launched the Holo Journey project as the first application in the world integrating three innovative technology solutions for enhancing the tourism experience and national heritage.