Museums can offer employment

Museums in the Kingdom will be able to provide nearly 4,000 job opportunities if they are revamped, financed and turned into business hubs, says a museum owner.
Dr. Nawaf Al-Rashed, a museum owner, described museums as a nation’s treasure, explaining that their definition calls them scientific and cultural facilities which display human heritage.
Al-Rashed pointed to the importance of allocating a fixed sum and a share of profits so that each museum can pay its own expenses.
“Profits can be made from general admission charges, shops within the museums selling various items from the collections, allocating rental space for special events and presenting special exhibitions for which tickets would be sold,” he said.
Al-Rashed appealed to the authorities to provide the necessary facilities to museum owners, particularly in relation to licensing, regulations, environmental and legal considerations, media opportunities, as well as financial support, and assistance in inviting tourists to visit museums.
Ghassan Suleiman Tanash, director of cultural festivals in the Jordanian Ministry of Culture, pointed to the importance of highlighting the cultural history of each area. He spoke about the Jerash Festival in Jordan which is organized by the Jordanian Ministry of Culture to preserve the country’s cultural and human heritage.
He said that the importance of museums and heritage shops extends to the preservation of cultural heritage, the revival of the tourism economy, the provision of jobs, and the involvement of people with special needs in the social and economic development process.
Tanash noted that recent statistics revealed that sales of traditional artifacts and gifts in Saudi Arabia in 2010 was estimated at SR1.5 billion. In view of that, he recommended the provision of legal, financial, and media-based support, in addition to assistance with training and organizational support to the sector’s facilities.