Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Phocuswright Conference in Florida

Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Phocuswright Conference in Florida
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Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Phocuswright Conference in Florida

Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Phocuswright Conference in Florida

The Saudi Tourism Authority participated in the Phocuswright Conference, a leading gathering of the travel and technology industry.
Held from November 13 to 16 in Florida, US, under the theme "You, Me and the Machine," the conference aimed to boost communication, develop relationships among current partners, establish new strategic partnerships, and increase investment in the tourism sector.
Saudi Tourism Authority CEO Fahd Hamidaddin participated in a session titled "Innovating Travel & Tourism for the Future," where he shed light on the successful transformation of the tourism sector in the Kingdom.
He tackled the culture of innovation in the country, the development and qualification of national talents, the endeavor to enhance the tourists' experience, and the creative approach in setting goals and overcoming challenges, all of which aim to achieve the targets of the tourism sector and the Kingdom's Vision 2030.
Hamidaddin stressed that the Saudi Tourism Authority participates in significant international exhibitions and conferences with the aim of attracting investment in the tourism sector in the Kingdom, and that one of the key targeted markets is the American.



UN Puts 4th Century Gaza Monastery on Endangered Site List

The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
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UN Puts 4th Century Gaza Monastery on Endangered Site List

The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File

The Saint Hilarion complex, one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East, has been put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in danger due to the war in Gaza, the body said Friday.
UNESCO said the site, which dates back to the fourth century, had been put on the endangered list at the demand of Palestinian authorities and cited the "imminent threats" it faced.
"It's the only recourse to protect the site from destruction in the current context," Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, told AFP, referring to the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.
In December, the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict decided to grant "provisional enhanced protection" -- the highest level of immunity established by the 1954 Hague Convention -- to the site.
UNESCO had then said it was "already concerned about the state of conservation of sites, before October 7, due to the lack of adequate policies to protect heritage and culture" in Gaza.
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 39,175 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.