The Royal Commission for AlUla Launches Its Second Winter at Tantora Festival of Culture, Heritage and Celebration in Saudi Arabia
The second Winter at Tantora Festival in AlUla in North West Saudi Arabia starts today – a three-month celebration that will showcase the very best in international music, art and culture connecting East and West as the AlUla county has done for thousands of years.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191219005781/en/
Winter at Tantora: Experience AlUla (Photo : AETOSWire)
It comes just months after Saudi Arabia introduced tourist visas to citizens from 49 countries making the Kingdom more accessible than ever with the UNESCO World Heritage site at Hegra in AlUla among those featured in a global marketing campaign.
The festival is part of the Cultural Manifesto that was launched by the festival organisers, the Royal Commission for AlUla, in Paris in October as part of a long-term strategy to transform the region and open the region as a global living museum and place of culture, heritage and the arts.
Winter at Tantora will cover 12 weekends from 19th December and host a wide range of events from the world-famous Dakar Rally; international ballooning festival; the world’s second longest endurance horse race; the world’s first desert polo tournament and welcome pop-up restaurants from globally renowned restaurants.
The spectacular mirrored wall Maraya Theatre with its 500-seat capacity and operatic sound quality will be home throughout the festival to some of the world’s leading performers who range from Omar Khairat to Andrea Bocelli.
Festival visitors will also be able to meet and engage with young members of the AlUla community who are benefitting from a diverse range of training programmes in hospitality; culture; nature and the environment and studying overseas including 24 men and women at the FERRANDI Paris culinary institute in Paris.
These young chefs will work alongside Michelin-starred experts during the festival creating world-class cuisine that will incorporate local ingredients from the fertile AlUla valley and blending traditional recipes with modern cuisine.
RCU CEO Amr AlMadani says: “Festival visitors will be given a unique opportunity to visit and experience one of the world’s undiscovered places and its spectacular heritage sites before we reopen them to the world in October 2020.
“They will get a tantalising glimpse of a place that been a cultural crossroads for thousands of years and the chance to see it from the serenity of a hot air balloon; the adrenaline of soaring over the desert and mountains in an open seater biplane or exploring hidden canyons in traditional vintage Land Rovers.”
The Royal Commission for AlUla has also completed major infrastructure work at AlUla airport – increasing capacity fourfold to 400,000 visitors a year and upgrading local mountain resorts to enhance the visitor experience.
AlUla will be a worldwide destination for those seeking a unique experience of the full meaning and context of landscape – an experience that integrates the natural and cultural heritage as one living environment. By safeguarding our precious landscapes and cultural heritage this open-air museum will be the Kingdom’s gift to the world creating remarkable and lasting memories.
‘Authentic AlUla’, the opening weekend, is a celebration rooted in AlUla, to mark the start of the winter planting season at the iconic Tantora sundial from which the festival is named. It is the first of 12 specially themed weekends.
Notes to editors
To find out more about the Winter at Tantora festival and details of packages and the entertainment and cultural programmes, log on to www.experiencealula.com
To find out more about how the Royal Commission for AlUla is working with the community to develop a world-class tourism destination, log on to www.rcu.gov.sa
*Source: AETOSWire
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191219005781/en/
Contact information
RCU Public Relations team
The head of PR at RCU
Antony Newton
PublicRelations@rcu.gov.sa
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
MarkLines Gen-AI Beta Version Released for Automotive Industry13.1.2026 02:00:00 EET | Press release
MarkLines Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Makoto Sakai; TYO:3901) announced its launch of the "MarkLines Gen-AI Beta Version," the new feature for B2B users in the automotive industry. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112383839/en/ "MarkLines Gen-AI Beta Version" can take questions in natural language and instantly give highly reliable, relevant data drawn from MarkLines’ extensive automotive database (Image: MarkLines Co., Ltd.) This AI-powered feature enables users to ask questions in natural language and instantly receive highly reliable, relevant data drawn from MarkLines’ extensive automotive database. Moreover, the system analyzes this information by leveraging the rich content across its platform and delivers clear, concise, text-based insights. By combining trusted data with advanced analytical capabilities through generative AI, this service represents a first-of-its-kind
Australian Defence Force Secures Satellite Communications on SES IS-2212.1.2026 23:30:00 EET | Press release
Satellite communications solutions provider SES will provide secure uninterrupted satellite communications to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) for a minimum of 16 years thanks to a new extended agreement. The service will be provided via the SES Intelsat 22 satellite and an ultra-high frequency (UHF) military communications payload. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112137182/en/ Assistant Secretary Space Systems Branch, Michael Hunt, formalizes contract negotiations for the through-life support of the IS-22 satellite with Rory Welch, senior vice-president of service delivery at SES Space and Defense. Photos: Corporal Annika Smit Under the renewed arrangement, SES will reposition the IS-22 satellite to a new orbital slot specified by the ADF, continuing a mission that has been the cornerstone of Australia’s secure military communications since IS-22’s launch in 2012. SES will build a dedicated ground segmen
NetApp Appoints Paul Fipps to the Board of Directors12.1.2026 23:05:00 EET | Press release
NetApp® (NASDAQ: NTAP), the intelligent data infrastructure company, today announced that Paul Fipps, President of Global Customer Operations at ServiceNow, has joined its Board of Directors. The board now has ten directors, nine of whom are independent, and 50% of whom have been appointed within the last five years. Fipps brings more than 20 years of experience driving technology-enabled growth and customer transformation. At ServiceNow, he currently leads global sales, customer success, partner ecosystems, and field operations. He previously served as EVP of Worldwide Sales at ServiceNow and as President of Under Armour Connected Fitness and Chief Experience Officer at Under Armour, overseeing global direct-to-consumer, connected fitness, and digital experiences. He also previously served on the advisory board of Quantum Metric. Fipps holds a B.S. in Information Systems, an MBA from the University of Baltimore, and is a graduate of The Wharton School’s Advanced Management Program. “P
FDA Accepts New Drug Application for Pimicotinib for the Treatment of Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumor12.1.2026 21:00:00 EET | Press release
Merck, a leading science and technology company, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the company’s new drug application (NDA) for pimicotinib as a systemic treatment for patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT). The application is based on the primary results and longer-term follow-up of the global Phase 3 MANEUVER study, which demonstrated deep and durable tumor responses and meaningful improvements in clinical outcomes with pimicotinib. “With pimicotinib, we have an opportunity to significantly advance care for people living with TGCT, a painful and debilitating disease that has few effective and well-tolerated treatment options beyond surgery,” said David Weinreich, Global Head of R&D and Chief Medical Officer for the Healthcare business of Merck. “Based on clinical trial results showing not only a reduction in tumor burden, but also the ability to help alleviate symptoms like pain and stiffness in the global Phase 3 MANEUVER study
Fabentech receives Marketing Authorization for Ricimed®, an antidote against ricin poisoning12.1.2026 20:32:00 EET | Press release
Fabentech, a French biopharmaceutical company specializing in medical countermeasures against biological threats, today announces that it has been granted Marketing Authorization for Ricimed®, a treatment for ricin poisoning. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112241557/en/ Ricimed - Fabentech Ricimed®, an antidote against one of the most toxic natural substances in the world In addition to supportive care, and in severe situations requiring immediate administration, Ricimed® represents a new therapeutic option for the management of acute ricin intoxication. Ricin, among the most dangerous naturally occurring substances, can cause death within hours or days regardless of the route of exposure, making it a major biological threat for many countries. Having demonstrated its ability to specifically target and neutralize ricin before irreversible damage occurs, Ricimed® is an antibody-based therapy relying on poly
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom