Introducing Al-Ula to the world

You feel at ease when you meet the undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for protocol affairs, Ambassador Alaa Askari. When he spoke about the journey of 130 ambassadors, consuls, and chargé d’affaires with their families to the heritage village of Al-Ula near Madinah, he said it was turned into a big meeting hall for diplomats in the Kingdom.
“You can’t imagine how happy they were to see samples of Hijazi heritage and Saudi heritage in general. They came from all over the world. Can you believe that we gathered seven continents in one place? We could not have done this without the great support of Prince Sultan bin Salman, president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, who accompanied us in this journey,” said Ambassador Askari.
When I asked Mr. Castro, for instance, about Saudi Arabia, he put his pipe aside and said, “Introducing tourism in Saudi Arabia is not the responsibility of a certain individual or organization but a mutual responsibility. The idea of organizing this journey was endorsed my Prince Saud Al-Faisal, minister of foreign affairs, to enlighten the whole world on the rich and beautiful cultural heritage that we have. Can you imagine that 130 diplomats became ambassadors of Saudi tourism in their countries?”
I asked Mr. Askari, “How was such a small village able to take on such a large number of diplomats? Are there any tourist services in Al-Ula such as hotels, restaurants and parks?”
“The hotel where we spent our night was one of best in the whole world.” answered Mr. Askari. “The hotel has only 100 rooms and that accounts for their attention to detail.”
How did you accommodate the families?” I asked.
The ambassador replied, “Saudis are known for their intelligence. We set up tents in the hotel yard where we had an unforgettable Bedouin night. At the beginning, Dr. Ahmad Alshwaikan, a member of the tourism development committee, welcomed the diplomats. He explained the history of the village and the highlighted the initiatives made by the committee to shed light on this village. Moreover, the delegate was delighted to taste traditional food prepared by families who dwell there. Thousands of pictures were taken by the visitors who were pleasantly surprised by the scene.”
It is really worth mentioning that Ambassador Askari himself took thousands of snapshots. The scenery was spectacular and the photos were astonishing. I told him to quit the diplomatic corps and become a professional photographer. “You are a remarkable photographer and an even more remarkable diplomat.”