AL-JOUF – About 90,000 visitors to the Sixth Olive Festival in Al-Jouf province spent SR11 million during the first four days of the festival that started last Tuesday. The festival at Prince Abdul Ilah Center was inaugurated by Emir of Al-Jouf Prince Fahd Bin Badr and will continue until Feb. 11. The mayor of Al-Jouf, Ajab Al-Qahtani, said the festival received a big response from visitors, with numbers exceeding 90,000 in four days. There were visitors from other regions of the Kingdom as well as the GCC countries. He said the olive festival is among the largest festivals that are held in the Kingdom during the mid-year vacation. Some of the participants are among the largest producers of olive oil in the Gulf region while some are considered the largest producers of organic olive oil around the world. Al-Qahtani expects the numbers to rise due to the current school vacation. Sales exceeded SR11 million so far, most of which were for purchasing olive oil, olives and olive products. Farmers were able also to make deals and market part of their future production due to the increasing demand for olive oil. Al-Qahtani added that there were other exhibitions being held on the sidelines of the festival. Among them is the Productive Families Exhibition that is being organized by the King Abdul Aziz Women's Charitable Society in cooperation with the branch of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA). Whoever tours the exhibition will appreciate that it is no less than any international exhibition in terms of organization. The most prestigious international trademarks specializing in the manufacture of carpets, handbags, textiles and the best sweets are present in the exhibition. All exhibited products are handmade in Al-Jouf. For example, carpets are made by hand from sheep wool and soap from olive oil. About 80 families are participating in the exhibition. The sixth olive festival in Al-Jouf has also organized a course entitled “Life Without Stress” by the trainer Wafa Al-Khawalidah last Saturday at the Girls' College of Technology. The course was attended by 55 trainees. There are 14 million olive trees in 15,000 farms in Al-Jouf and it is expected that the number of olive trees will reach 20 million over the next few years, according to Al-Qahtani. The huge increase in the number of olive trees can be attributed to the olive tree festivals, which focused on and helped in marketing Al-Jouf olive trees, he added.
