The Riyadh Season 2021 festival has begun in Saudi Arabia's capital, with a variety of concerts and other entertainment activities.
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| [Riyadh Season 2021] |
The Riyadh Season 2021 festival has begun in Saudi Arabia's capital, with a variety of concerts and other entertainment activities taking place in 14 zones around the city. Pitbull, an American rapper, gave a statement at the opening ceremony and was presented to the crowd by Mark William Calway, or "The Undertaker," a world-famous wrestler.
Prior to the address, Turki Al-Sheikh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Directorate of Entertainment, gave a speech thanking King Salman bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman Al Saud for their assistance in the event's preparation. According to reports, around 750 thousand people attended the performance, with several million more watching the broadcast on the Internet and television.
The event is part of the Saudi Seasons program, which will be inaugurated in 2019 by the Saudi Arabia Tourism and National Heritage Commission (SCTH). A committee led by Muhammad bin Salman organizes the activities that take place in various places. A number of other departments, such as the Ministry of Culture and Sports, are also engaged.
One of the initiative's primary aims is to enhance the state's tourist sector while also increasing population employment. In instance, the "season" in Jeddah in 2019 offered around 5,000 jobs for the country's young people. Saudi Seasons is part of a government initiative to lessen the country's reliance on oil exports by attracting more international visitors and investors, among other things.
In addition to concerts, the Riyadh Season 2021 includes fashion displays, entertainment programs, cultural and sporting activities, masquerades, and sales, as well as around 90 food trucks where visitors may sample the cuisines of various nations across the world. Several large-scale pyrotechnic exhibitions were held across the city. Riyadh has also deployed mobile medical posts and boosted the number of emergency workers to improve security.
Shortly before the festival, the kingdom's officials progressively relaxed a number of coronavirus limitations due to a drop in the incidence rate - on average, just over 40 persons were admitted to clinics with such a diagnosis each day over the previous week. According to the Saudi Ministry of Health, this is the lowest infection rate since the beginning of the year.
This figure contrasts sharply with those from mid-June, when more over a thousand sick patients were admitted to hospitals every day. At the same time, by September, the country's population of roughly 35 million people had received more than 40 million doses of the vaccine, which may be made in the kingdom by both native inhabitants and international immigrants.
The kingdom has discontinued the mask mode while in open locations as part of the gradual removal of restrictions that began on October 17. Inside buildings, people are still obliged to wear protective gear. It's worth mentioning that failing to comply with such regulations in the country might result in serious consequences, including incarceration.