Sana’a summer festival diversifies its activities

Promoters of the fifth edition of the Sana’a Summer Tourist Festival, organized by Ministry of Tourism, are using an inviting slogan to lure visitors.

The slogan is, “You will eventually come to Sana’a, no matter how long you travel.”

The one-month festival, which began on July 3, offers an international flavor as bands from twelve different Arab and foreign countries are participating. Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Security and Minister of Local Administration Rashad al-Alimi launched the festivities.

Al-Alimi said that the festival is a message for world to see heritage and culture of Yemen.

He highlighted efforts of the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Culture in organizing the festival, calling on all to visit the one-month festival as it is a chance to know further about the civilization and culture of Yemen.

Fatima al-Huraibi, executive director of the Yemen Tourism Promotion Board, said the festival “provides an important cultural link and an open invitation to everyone who loves Yemen, from the Arab Gulf countries and elsewhere, to benefit from Yemen’s resources.”

The program includes a number of tourist activities and creative shows performed by local, Arab and foreign bands. Every Monday musical performances are featured, while Thursdays offer plays and fashion shows. Folk dance bands will perform the most popular dances from each province daily.

A number of tents depict the lifestyles in areas of Yemen. The Marib Tent depicts the bedouin art and heritage of Marib province, including the traditional clothing and aspects of desert life.

“The festival offers art exhibits and cultural, folkloric and sports activities,” Al-Huraibi said. It also represents a historical and cultural market with sixty tents, where shoppers can find traditional clothes, jewels, and silverware inlaid with Yemeni agate, which is famous throughout the country, especially in Sana’a. The tents will showcase handicrafts whose revenues will be used for programs to benefit the poor and orphans.”

Al-Huraibi said the festival is part of a new trend that seeks to revive festival tourism by using Yemen’s history and cultural heritage to attract Arab tourists, especially from the Gulf and Saudi Arabia, whose citizens accounted for 70 percent of the visitors to Yemen in 2009, according to official statistics.

Al-Huraibi said the average number of daily festival visitors in 2009 was 2,500.
“Over the past seven days, the average number of daily visitors reached 3,000, although the major activities and shows by Arab and foreign bands have not started yet,” she said.

Al-Huraibi said Sana’a was chosen to host the festival because of its good summer weather and the availability of services and security precautions. “Sana’a is a historical city with a unique culture and tradition that led to its transformation into a living historical and cultural museum. The city has museums, traditional markets and handicraft exhibitions,” he said.

Different weekly theatrical presentations by young creative groups will be held in Al-Sabeen Park. The national band will also display folkloric parties from different governorates. Recitation ceremonies that portray the different popular Yemeni chanting traditions will also be presented within the events, the committee added.

A gallery of a large number of Yemeni plastic artists and the Norwegian Tourist Promotion Council’s exhibition and the traditional handicrafts’ exhibition and a number of women traditional handicraft societies will be held in Bab al- Yemen. Other musicians and artists from around the region and the world will also participate.

Visitors praised the variety of activities that the festival offers. “Every summer, I visit my homeland Yemen to spend good days with my family and children. I also visit the festival every day because it has a wide array of activities that suit all ages,” said Abd Al-Ilah al-Baadani, a Yemeni expatriate in Saudi Arabia.

Afaf Hamoud, president of the Dar al-Majd Charitable Association, said her association participates in the festival with a tent where it exhibits handicrafts, silverware inlaid with agate, and dresses made by the girls in the association.

Hamoud said visitors were amazed with the accuracy of the designs, pointing out that some people still search for traditional products. She added that the festival is a good opportunity to market such products. Officials are hoping the festival will promote Yemen as an important tourist destination, following the decline in tourism levels in Yemen in recent years.

Related Content

•  5th Arab Ladies Lunch with a visit of Clinic General Beaulieu in Geneva launched
•   Life-saving group from Yemen wins Nansen Refugee Award
•  Photojournalist Amira Al-Sharif’s Journal 2010-2011 in the Land of dreams
•  Yemen Capital’s Al-Hasaba residents, massive displacement and continued suffering
•  Raufa Hassan, precious philanthropist dies at 53
•  Tears in the storm
•  Protecting Yemen Leopard
•  The Gift Maker wins British Council short film competition
•  Yemeni cartoonist swims freely in his sea of thoughts
•  Qat chewing increases among Yemeni young girls