AlUla Reveals its Plans for Developing Tourism

AlUla is becoming more attractive to tourists. Reuters
AlUla is becoming more attractive to tourists. Reuters
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AlUla Reveals its Plans for Developing Tourism

AlUla is becoming more attractive to tourists. Reuters
AlUla is becoming more attractive to tourists. Reuters

Saudi Arabia plans to turn the historical city of AlUla in the northeast into an international tourism center that draws visitors interested in art and culture.

The Royal Commission for AlUla, the body tasked with developing and implementing sustainability initiatives, presented its plans for developing tourism at its natural reserves.

Members of the commission took part in a panel discussion at the Hospitality of Tomorrow virtual conference organized by Bench Events.

The participants said that the Royal Commission aims to attract two million visitors annually to AlUla, create 38,000 jobs, contribute 120 billion riyals (32 billion dollars) to the country’s Gross Domestic Product and protect AlUla’s historical and cultural heritage sites.

The conference was organized to provide a platform for discussion between stakeholders and leaders in the hospitality sector with the aim of speeding up its recovery by establishing the ties needed to build understanding and enhance relations and unity.

In the session, Abdulrahman Alsuhaibani, Director of Museums and Exhibitions, and Heritage Consultant, Royal Commission for AlUla said that AlUla is an exceptional site that has had human existence for more than 200,000 years, and the successive civilizations that inhabited it left rich and diverse legacies that makeup AlUla’s rich heritage. "We have a new and important old story that we would like to tell its chapters; accordingly, preserving AlUla and protecting its treasures and its heritage is among our priorities.”

The invigorating role that arts play in the development of AlUla and bringing in the local community was also discussed, with Nora Aldabal Arts and Culture Programming Director, Royal Commission for AlUla saying: “Bringing attention to AlUla as a cultural center supports creativity and artistic exchange (...) in cooperation with international bodies such as Desert X, where artists had the opportunity to make exhibitions in the context of societies, making society an essential pillar of the experiment’s success.”

Neville Wakefield from Desert X stressed that culture is the center of communication, adding that they worked to attract artists from all over the world and urged them to participate in the discussion and establish channels of dialogue amongst themselves as they visited the natural sites of AlUla.



Philippine Volcano Spews Ash Plume Into the Sky, Prompting School Closures

This handout photo taken from the Facebook account of Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography on April 8, 2025 shows Mount Kanlaon erupting as seen from a village in La Castellana, Negros Occidental Province, central Philippines. (Photo by Handout / Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography Facebook account / AFP)
This handout photo taken from the Facebook account of Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography on April 8, 2025 shows Mount Kanlaon erupting as seen from a village in La Castellana, Negros Occidental Province, central Philippines. (Photo by Handout / Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography Facebook account / AFP)
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Philippine Volcano Spews Ash Plume Into the Sky, Prompting School Closures

This handout photo taken from the Facebook account of Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography on April 8, 2025 shows Mount Kanlaon erupting as seen from a village in La Castellana, Negros Occidental Province, central Philippines. (Photo by Handout / Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography Facebook account / AFP)
This handout photo taken from the Facebook account of Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography on April 8, 2025 shows Mount Kanlaon erupting as seen from a village in La Castellana, Negros Occidental Province, central Philippines. (Photo by Handout / Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography Facebook account / AFP)

A restive Philippine volcano briefly erupted Tuesday on a central island, sending a 4-kilometer (2.4-mile) plume of ash and debris into the sky and forcing authorities to suspend school classes in four villages due to ashfall, officials said.
There were no reports of injuries or damage from Mount Kanlaon’s latest eruption after dawn that lasted more than an hour and scattered ash in at least four farming villages southwest of the volcano on Negros island, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
Kanlaon last erupted in December, prompting the evacuation of thousands of villagers, many of whom remained in emergency shelters on Tuesday as the volcano continued showing signs of restiveness, the Office of Civil Defense said.
Philippine chief volcanologist Teresito Bacolcol told The Associated Press there were no other key signs of restiveness, like a spike in volcanic earthquakes, that would prompt the alert on Kanlaon to be raised from the current level 3, which means a “high level of volcanic unrest." The highest alert, level 5, means a “hazardous eruption is in progress.”
“The possibility of a bigger eruption is always there,” Bacolcol said, urging people to remain vigilant and stay away from a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) danger zone around Kanlaon.
The 2,435-meter (7,988-foot) volcano is one of the country’s 24 most active volcanoes. In 1996, three hikers were killed near the peak and several others were later rescued when Kanlaon erupted without warning, officials said then.
The Philippines is located in the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The archipelago is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms a year, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.