Sightseeing after Haj and December Umrah with British haj travel
SAUDI tour guides volunteered to host 260 Indian pilgrims for sightseeing in historic Jeddah last Saturday.
This initiative was conducted by a group of professional and specialist tourist guides from Jeddah Our Days of Bless Establishment, Unique Tours Company, and the Heart of Jeddah group.
The initiative aims at hosting 1 million pilgrims in historic Jeddah, which was registered as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2014.
The Indian pilgrims started their visit from the historical gate, from where the volunteering tourist guides took them through the narrow alleys of the old city to visit the famous historic houses such as the House of Ba’eeshen, and the House of Salloom, which is more than eight hundred years old. Then they visited the "Jeddah Our Days of Bless Library”, and “Jeddah Our Days of Bless Gallery”, which contains many portraits by local artists representing the culture and heritage of Jeddah.
Samer Komosani, one of the tour guides and executive partner in Unique Tours, emphasized: “A group of volunteers who adore the city of Jeddah and wanted to have a role in serving the pilgrims came up with the initiative. We hope that this first wave of pilgrims who visited the historic Jeddah would be the core for making new projects that serve the sites of historic Jeddah and create more job opportunities for the youth in the tourism industry.”
Francisco Rosique, a Spanish expatriate who adores the Saudi Hijazi Culture and Heritage, joined the group. Rosique was wearing the Hijazi traditional outfit throughout the visit.
He said visits historic Jeddah every weekend. “On weekends, I dress up in traditional Hijazi costume and come to the historical area with my friends to spend some time around the old historical houses," Rosique said.
"I think the tradition and culture of Jeddah is very nice and beautiful. Many times I have visited Madinah Al-Tayebat International Museum of Science and Knowledge in Jeddah," he added.
One of the tourist guides who volunteered in the initiative was the first Saudi female tourist guide, Abeer Abu Sulayman. She noted: “We would like to let the pilgrims experience real tourism inside Saudi Arabia. We want them to see the beautiful parts of our country, one of them the historic area of Jeddah, which is a UNESCO world heritage site.”
Abu Sulayman added, "Today we were lucky to receive 260 pilgrims. All the activities were free for them because we want to elaborate this initiative and to make it a reality for all other pilgrims."
Abu Sulayman said she been working in the historical area since 2011, and with the Saudi Vision 2030, she was sure women were going to have a big role in the country's tourism industry.
One of the Indian pilgrims, Mazhar Khan, expressed his happiness after praying Maghreb at the historic Al-Shafie Mosque, which is one of the oldest mosques of Jeddah. It was built 800 years ago.
“We were happy to see the historical places of Jeddah, from cultural houses to ancient mosques such as the Al-Shafie Mosque. Every one showed us a lot of respect in the historical area," said Khan.
"The Haj trip was so easy. The Saudi government helped us so much. There were many facilities including water fountains that made our trip far easier than it used to be in the past. I thank Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman for making the Haj trip a very easy and comfortable one," Khan said.
source: saudigazette.com.sa/
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