Saudi Al-Ula Celebrates Guinness World Record For Longest Hot Air Balloon Glow Show

Balloonists from 19 countries completed the record breaking attempt. AAAWSAT AR Website
Balloonists from 19 countries completed the record breaking attempt. AAAWSAT AR Website
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Saudi Al-Ula Celebrates Guinness World Record For Longest Hot Air Balloon Glow Show

Balloonists from 19 countries completed the record breaking attempt. AAAWSAT AR Website
Balloonists from 19 countries completed the record breaking attempt. AAAWSAT AR Website

Saudi Arabia's Al-Ula Province won the Guinness World Records (GWR) title for Longest hot air balloon glow show with 100 balloons having spread across 3km over the the desert.

Balloonists from 19 countries around the world completed the record breaking attempt as part of the ongoing Winter at Tantora festival in north west Saudi Arabia.

Glow shows are a regular attraction at Al-Ula ongoing Winter at Tantora arts, music and culture festival. An official adjudicator from GWR attended the event which saw the 100 balloons stationed 30 meters apart, to verify the official attempt as the hot air ballooning festival at Winter at Tantora came to an end.

For his part, Amr Al Madani, CEO of the Royal Commission for Al-Ula, and president of SAHAB, the Saudi Arabian Balloon Federation, said: “We are enormously proud to have been recognised by GWR for this achievement."

“This was a tremendously complex task in planning and coordination to ensure that it was achieved with maximum impact and it was truly a night to remember and demonstrates once again the extraordinary opportunities that Al-Ula has to offer in every sphere as a destination,” he added.

The balloonists who took part in the event were all certified experts who hold commercial pilot’s licences.

They offered festival attendees the opportunity to glide over and through Al-Ula's spectacular landscape and some of its 7,000 years of archaeological remains.

Winter at Tantora runs until March 7, and features a range of top-class entertainment, cultural, arts and sporting events, including concerts at the mirrored Maraya concert hall and the Fursan horse endurance race on Feb. 1.



Venice Cuts Size of Tourist Parties, Bans Loudspeakers

Stewards check QR codes outside the main train station in Venice earlier this month, during a pilot scheme aimed at limiting tourist numbers. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP
Stewards check QR codes outside the main train station in Venice earlier this month, during a pilot scheme aimed at limiting tourist numbers. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP
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Venice Cuts Size of Tourist Parties, Bans Loudspeakers

Stewards check QR codes outside the main train station in Venice earlier this month, during a pilot scheme aimed at limiting tourist numbers. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP
Stewards check QR codes outside the main train station in Venice earlier this month, during a pilot scheme aimed at limiting tourist numbers. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP

Venice will limit the size of tourist parties to 25 people from Thursday in the latest attempt to reduce the impact of crowds on the lagoon city.

Local authorities will also ban the use of loudspeakers by tourist guides in measures aimed at “protecting the peace of residents” and ensuring pedestrians can move around more freely.

There will be fines ranging from €25-500 (£21-£422) for those who do not comply with the measures, which were originally planned to take effect from June but held over until the start of August, The Guardian reported.

The restrictions cover the city center and also the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello.

In April, Venice became the first city in the world to introduce a payment system for visitors in an experiment aimed at dissuading daytrippers from arriving during peak periods.