| Salalah festival gets off to colourful start |
Awadh Daheesh, Ahmed Abou Ghanima & Saleh Mohmmed
SALALAH HE Sayyid Mohammed Bin Sultan Al Busaidi, Minister of State and Governor of Dhofar and General Supervisor of the festival, presided over the opening ceremony of Salalah Tourism Festival 2012 on Thursday. The festival will conclude on July 18.
The ceremony was attended by Their Excellencies members of the State and Shura councils, directors-general, officials and sheikhs of the Dhofar governorate, HE Sheikh Salim Bin Aufait Al Shanfari, Head of Dhofar Municipality and Chairman of the Main Committee for Salalah Tourism Festival 2012.
Mohammed Al Busaidi cut the ribbon at the main gate of the Municipal Recreational Centre to mark the opening of the event.
This year’s festival focuses on children’s skills and hobbies. The festival slogan is ‘Omani Child Forum’ and themed ‘Safe Childhood and Promising Future’ is the highlight of the Salalah Tourism Festival 2012 and it reflects the great interest accorded by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said.
The Salalah Tourism Festival, which is considered one of the major festivals in the region, will include a number of programmes including cultural villages which display traditional crafts and industries, arts, games, traditional dishes and Omani fashion. It also includes Salalah Tourism Cup competition in which a number of wilayats across the Sultanate’s governorates will take part.
The Municipality Recreational Centre will host a number of trade, cultural, art, service, technology and communication exhibitions in which the different public and private establishments will take part. Here exhibitions will run all through the festival and some other expos during certain days.
Major expos are the Omani Child Exhibition, Shopping Fair and Technical Exhibition. The exhibitions by the Public Authority for Documents and National Archives, Public Authority for Craft Industries, Public Authority for Consumer Protection, Omani Society for Fine Arts, the Sultan’s Armed Forces Museum, Royal Oman Police, Omani Women’s Associations, Al Wafa Volunteers Centres, Oman Air and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, besides an Agricultural Fair.
Media institutions will cover the event, providing radio and television programmes on the events. The Sultanate of Oman Television will telecast an interactive TV programme, Atir Al Mawasim, and a Lubanah programme in cooperation with the main committee of the Salalah Tourism Festival, featuring visitors at the Municipality Recreational Centre.
Three concerts will add to the glamour of this year’s fair. Many singers from the Sultanate and outside will take part in these events.
The festival will also include sport events, including championship for open shooting, Arabian football players’ festival, Dhofar football clubs championships with participation of the Sultan’s Armed Forces team for the first time, the eighth running race, the Dhofar running race and snooker and bowling championships are also part of this year’s Salalah festival.
With inputs from ONA
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