In this picture taken on January 18, people are seen at the site of the Okaz Festival in Taif. Ongoing tourism festivities have been told to suspend their activities in observance of King Abdullah’s death.

The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) has decided to suspend the ongoing and planned tourism festivals in the Kingdom to mark the death of King Abdullah who passed away early on Friday morning.

SCTA President Prince Sultan bin Salman extended his sincere condolences to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on the sad demise of King Abdullah in his individual capacity as well as on behalf of the members of the SCTA board of directors.

In his condolence message Prince Sultan said, “I would like to express my deepest sorrow and condolence on the death of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who in his death has constituted a great loss to both the Arab and Islamic world.”

“I would also like to convey the sincere condolences of the members of the SCTA board and its staff and their sincere prayer to Almighty Allah to bestow mercy and forgiveness upon him, bless his soul and grant him the best reward for his services to the Kingdom and its people and for his great deeds for Islam and the Muslims,” he added.

Moreover, Prince Sultan instructed the relevant authorities to suspend all ongoing or planned tourism events and festivals in different parts of the Kingdom which were meant to have continued until this weekend.

Significantly, the tourism and national heritage sectors witnessed a remarkable shift during the reign of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques the late King Abdullah. This is reflected in a number of resolutions and regulations aiming at supporting tourism and

national heritage projects across the Kingdom as well as enhancing the role of those sectors in economic development, cultural heritage preservation and strengthening of citizenship and national unity.

It was due to his interest that the Kingdom’s different provinces have seen a number of noteworthy projects in the fields of antiquities, heritage, museums and tourism investment.

Interestingly, during the reign of King Abdullah, SCTA also succeeded in changing Saudi society’s view toward the national heritage and achieved wide social acceptance for tourism which has played a major role in the creation of job opportunities thereby becoming the second top Saudi sector to achieve a nationalization rate of 30 percent.

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