Riyadh food festival billed a big success

The organizing committee of the 2nd Riyadh Food Festival (RFF 2012) honored on Sunday night at its concluding ceremony the participants, sponsors and organizers at the Riyadh InterContinental Hotel. The colorful festival held recently under the auspices of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) in cooperation with the Tourist Development Council in Riyadh featured participants from the US, Italy, Spain, Greece, India, South Africa, Indonesia, Morocco, Lebanon and Jordan. RFF is being organized in Riyadh's grand hotels including Four Seasons, InterContinental, Al-Faisaliah, Marriott, Sheraton, Holiday Inn Al-Qasr, Hilton Garden Inn, Radisson Blu, Mena Grand Khaldia, Corp Executive. Sunday's ceremony was organized by Aali for Advertisement and Marketing and attended by Abdullah Bin Salman Al-Juhani, SCTA vice president and Abdulrahman bin Isa Al-Jassas, executive director of tourism development in Riyadh Region. Abdullah Al-Murshi, SCTA director general for programs and products, and representatives of various organizations were also present. In his speech, Al-Juhani praised the success of the festival. “The festival has achieved its objectives in terms of contributing effectively to attracting visitors to the city of Riyadh as well as media attention over the full 15 days,” Al-Juhani said. He said because of the efforts and dedication of everyone involved, the event has been a success. This reflected the importance of the dedicated efforts of all concerned authorities and private sectors and their role in supporting the festival. This success has strengthened its position on the map of tourism in Saudi Arabia and the region. This festival has created a unique form of cooperation among all involved sectors, Al-Juhani said, describing it as the best festival of its kind in the capital. Al-Jassas said the efforts of the organizers have had a significant impact on the success of the festival. He expressed his gratitude and thanks to all sponsors, organizers and media that took part in the festival. Among the speakers were Al-Faisaliah Hotel Marketing Director Marco Duyves. He said the festival has become one of the most important events held in Riyadh during the middle of the school year. He said he was happy that his hotel scooped two international awards at the annual World Travel Awards held in Dubai recently. Another speaker was Medhat Ayoub, director of food and drinks at the Mina Al-Khalidiya. Ayoub praised the remarkable cooperation between all parties for the duration of the festival, which reflected positively on attendance levels. He said his hotel hosted during the festival a dinner for children.