Salalah Tourism Festival to boost cultural movement

The Salalah Tourism Festival 2011, to be held from July 1, is to give a boost to the artistic and cultural movement both globally and in the Arab world, Shaikh Salim Bin Ofait Bin Abdullah Al Shanfari, Chairman of the Festival\'s Organising Committee said. The duration of the annual festival has been curtailed and would end before the advent of the Holy Month of Ramadan. He said that the activities for the month-long festival will kick off on July 1 with a simple ceremony. \"The opening ceremony will reflect the festival\'s keenness to preserve the Sultanate\'s cultural heritage,\" said Shaikh Al Shanfari, who is also the Head of the Dhofar Municipality. Heritage He added that the festival seeks to highlight the Omani heritage, in addition to supporting distinguished persons in all fields. \"We hope to contribute towards the promotion of tourism across the country and in particular in Salalah through the Festival,\" he said, adding that the organisers have done their best to create an environment that would make every tourist\'s visit to Salalah a memorable one. He said that this year\'s addition to the Festival was an exhibition titled \"Oman; Land of Friendship and Peace.\" \"The exhibition will highlight efforts exerted by Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed since assuming power in the country for spreading domestic and foreign peace and security.\" Shaikh Al Shanfari further said that the message of peace and friendship will be conveyed through four sections at the exhibition. Peace \"The first section will be Social Peace which will highlight the Sultan\'s communication with his subjects through photographs\" he said. The second section will be \"Economic Peace,\", the third will review the \"Political Peace\" and the fourth section will be \"Environmental Peace\". There will be a show of fireworks in addition to the exhibitions.