The Emir of Makkah, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, has ordered that Old Jeddah be renamed Historic Jeddah, with due changes to be made to all official documents. The Emir's directive followed a proposal from Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, head of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), to use the new designation in all projects, documents and leaflets. This was after the SCTA applied to the United Nations' Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to register the area on the World's Heritage List. Saudi Arabia currently has one area on the World Heritage List – the Al-Hijr Archeological Site, also known as Madain Salih. The World Heritage List includes 890 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. This includes 689 cultural, 176 natural and 25 mixed properties in 148 countries, according to the UNESCO website.
