Since the beginning of summer this year, one amusement park in the southern city of Abha has been bringing in over 1,500 visitors every day with its range of attractions and fun events. As the city gets ready for “Abha Brings Us Together” summer festival, the director of the National Company for Tourism, Saleh Qadah, is expecting even more visitors to come to the park.
Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Qadah explained that the highlights of the park has been the light and sound show, which will continue for about 70 days, with proceeds from all shows going to students in need at King Khalid University in Abha. He also pointed out that visitors particularly enjoyed the fireworks on display, saying, “The fireworks have been a symbol of the summer activities for many years and that a large number of the residents and visitors are attracted to them.”
As part of the park’s events, a special clinic has been set up by the deanship of student affairs at King Khalid University to help smokers give up the habit. The clinic, which is set to remain open for an entire week at the park, opens every day from 4 pm to 8 pm.
Saudi Arabia has been working in increasing investment and focusing on creating more entertainment options at home, a part of larger efforts to diversify the Kingdom’s economy away from petroleum earnings. Reports show that Saudi Arabians spend around 8 billion US dollars annually on entertainment and recreation abroad, so providing opportunities to satisfy consumer demand at home has been on the country’s recent agenda.
In fact, one of the goals of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s overarching plan for social and economic reform, is to raise household spending on culture and entertainment to 6 percent of GDP, up from the current level of 2.9 percent. Two months ago, the Kingdom also launched the Quality of Life 2020 program, which has as one of its targets to increase the number of out-of-home entertainment venues across Saudi Arabia from 154 to 260 by 2020.
