Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday announced a new tourism master plan for Al Ula in the country's north-west.
The Journey Through Time master plan aims to turn Al Ula into a global destination for travellers offering heritage, nature, art and culture. When completed, the plan hopes to attract two million visitors every year to the historic Saudi region.
Prince Mohammed's plan will turn the Al Ula region into a "living museum" by immersing travellers in 200,000 years of natural and human history.
With a focus on sustainable tourism, a key part of the scheme is the creation of a low-carbon tram line that connects five distinct districts across the region. This tramway will follow a similar route to the ancient one running along the Hijaz Railway, used by pilgrims for hundreds of years. Other options to encourage sustainable travel will include a series of bicycle paths, extensive pedestrian trails and far-reaching equestrian tracks for low-carbon journeys.
The Journey Through Time will take travellers from Al Ula Old Town and neighbouring Dadan, to the open-air wall-carvings at Jabal Ikmah and onwards to the Nabataean Horizon and Hegra historical city, dedicated to Saudi Arabia's first Unesco World Heritage site.
A 20-kilometre Wadi of Hospitality
At the heart of Al Ula's desert landscape is the region's palm oasis. The new master plan proposes a 20-km Wadi of Hospitality to be created to run along this ancient oasis bed.
This area will act as the green pedestrian "spine" and will be home to restaurants, museums and other interactive attractions that will see visitors go to local farms, pick dates and learn more about the culture while enjoying the beauty of the oasis.
"It's going to be a very special place in Saudi Arabia, but also a place for visitors from around the globe who are interested in learning more about different cultures and multiple civilisations.
"It's a good reason for people to come and appreciate what we have to offer, and educate themselves in a way that will make a visit very memorable," says Phillip Jones, chief destination marketing officer of the Royal Commission for Al Ula.
The plan has no shortage of attractions, proposing that 15 new cultural assets such as galleries, museums and cultural centres be constructed across the districts. A 9-km Cultural Oasis will be home to a host of visitor experiences including living gardens, an Arts District, and the Perspectives Galleries. There are also plans for 10 million square metres of greenery and open spaces.
"Travellers will begin the journey at Al Ula Old Town, which is already up and running, and then there's the oasis and the wadi which will give people 20km to walk or ride and enjoy the regenerated wadi. And then travellers can take eco-friendly transportation through the entire area, to Dadan, Ikmah and on to Hegra, which is ultimately where the journey ends," explains Jones.
"Every stop along the way will give you a story, and you'll be able to learn about the civilisations that have left their mark over the last 200,000 years."
As part of the plan, Al Ula's hotel scene also gets a boost with an additional 5,000 rooms and suites to be built across the region. Lodgings will offer a variety of accommodation options including luxury hotels, canyon farms, stays and ecotourism resorts.
The announcement also set out the plans for The Kingdoms Institute. Located in the oasis of Dadan, it will become one of the cultural centres of Saudi Arabia and a global hub and learning centre for archaeological research about the civilisations that have inhabited Al Ula. The design of the cluster of buildings making up The Kingdoms Institute is inspired by the Dadan civilisation, and they will appear as if carved in the mountains opposite the archaeological site of Dadan.
Learning from the past, planning for the future
While the master plan takes guests on a journey through time from ancient civilisations and pilgrimage routes, to modern carbon-free tramways, it also places importance on protecting tomorrow.
The master plan includes the Al Ula Sustainability Charter, which ensures that all development happens alongside an innovative and integrated approach to sustainability. The charter includes a zero-carbon policy coupled with circular economy principles, and robust resiliency policies around development in heritage and environmentally sensitive areas, as well as flood and improved water management and vegetation planting.
Al Ula residents, who have acted as guardians of ancestral values, techniques, and traditions over millennia, are an integral part of the new master plan. As well as helping to boost local economies, the plan includes community-driven services and amenities including cultural and educational facilities to be constructed across each district.
Laid out in three phases, the master plan is set for completion by 2035, but the first phase is on track to be completed by 2023. Over the next 14 years, the Journey Through Time master plan will create 38,000 new jobs across Al Ula and add 120 billion Saudi riyals ($32bn) to Saudi Arabia's gross domestic product.
By 2035, 80 per cent of Al Ula County will also have been designated as nature reserves, with key indigenous flora and fauna reintroduced across the region.
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
RESULT
Manchester City 1 Sheffield United 0
Man City: Jesus (9')
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
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Gael Monfils (15) v Kyle Edmund
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Magdalena Rybarikova
Dusan Lajovic v Roger Federer (3)
Court 1 - 4pm
Adam Pavlasek v Novak Djokovic (2)
Dominic Thiem (8) v Gilles Simon
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Grigor Dimitrov (13) v Marcos Baghdatis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Christina McHale
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What is a robo-adviser?
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$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
