Much has been written about Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s ambitious blueprint for a future less beholden to its oil revenue. Considerable efforts to diversify economically, socially, and culturally are no more apparent than in Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector, in which the kingdom is projected to invest $1 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. While the construction of critical infrastructure accounts for the lion’s share of this unfathomable sum, a welcome consequence of the expansion of its tourism industry is an effective commitment to cultural preservation across the kingdom; UNESCO World Heritage Sites are potential destinations for domestic and international tourists and have commanded significant effort and funding in recent years. However, the physical restoration of dilapidated villages and excavation of buried artifacts is in itself insufficient to attract and educate visitors. As such, Saudi Arabia has strategically invested in the arts alongside preservation projects, resulting in enlivened locales, brimming with layered histories, from pre-Islamic times to present day. In Al-Hofuf, in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, the Layali Al-Qaisariyah festival is an illuminating example of how the kingdom’s arts and entertainment agenda extends beyond its major cities.

An Oasis in the East: Al-Ahsa

Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province is its largest, stretching from the coastline of the Gulf to Rub al-Khali, or the Empty Quarter. Since ARAMCO discovered expansive underground oil reserves in Dhahran in the early 20th century, the oil industry has dominated the local economy. However, in line with its commitment to the expansion of its tourism sector by 2030, Saudi Arabia has directed attention and investment into the Eastern Province, particularly in Al-Ahsa. Home to the largest oasis in the kingdom, irrigated by underground freshwater reserves, Al-Ahsa is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its diverse cultural landscape. Its fertile soil in an otherwise arid region has supported human civilization across centuries, and its strategic location on trade routes extending to Iraq and India has made it a site of contest between various competing powers in the past, among them the Portuguese and Ottomans. Today, Al-Ahsa boasts archaeological sites, unique geologic formations, and an active agricultural industry. Architectural sites of interest in Al-Hofuf, the region’s capital, include Ibrahim Palace (once used as military barracks for the Ottomans), Uqair Fort, and Qaisariyah Souq (one of the oldest markets in the kingdom). Reportedly built in 1822, Qaisariyah Souq was restored after a devastating fire in 2001 and now hosts the Layali Al-Qaisariyah festival featuring traditional music and dance performances, games for children, and arts and crafts. The festival was advertised widely in 2022 as a potential draw for international World Cup tourists in nearby Qatar.

Layali Al-Qaisariyah

The two-month Layali Al-Qaisariyah festival is held in the square at the heart of the open-air souq, which is illuminated with string lights and colorful lighting of the surrounding architecture. During a visit in early January, the popularity of the festival was immediately apparent in the sheer number of visitors, mostly families, jostling through the square to move from one presentation to the next. Further into the crowd, there was a children’s section with teenagers leading a popular game of Bat, Bat, Iwza (Duck, Duck, Goose), and a throng of eager children waited, to the best of their ability, to join the next round. The game was played to the sound of the tabla drum, which mixed with the songs emanating from a nearby stage, hosting traditional dances from the region. Men swayed to the resounding beat of bendir drums with tools used during harvest times in hand, imitating the laborious movements of workers in the grain fields for which Al-Ahsa is famous. Next, a war dance was performed, and tools were replaced with rifles. The same deliberate, hypnotic swaying characterized this dance, as is popular across the Gulf; the seating area was overcome with women and children hoping to see over the heads of the immense crowd. At the far end of the square, a qanun player and oud player performed on a circular stage to a standing group that was singing along to familiar songs of the region. Children danced and ran through the crowd, emphasizing the appeal of the festival for families, both local and from elsewhere in the kingdom. There weren’t any visibly foreign tourists at the festival, suggesting Saudi Arabia is curating entertainment offerings according to disparate cultural sensibilities across its provinces.

Heritage Preservation in the Remotest Corners

The Layali Al-Qaisariyah festival is a scene unimaginable mere decades ago, when public live music performances and mixed-gender spaces were banned. The festival is a testament to a society receptive to the shifts ushered in with Vision 2030. A joint effort across levels of government, the festival adheres to the social sensibilities of a generally conservative audience and family values, building on the sense of pride in the distinctive cultural heritage of Al-Hofuf. It consequently appears that investment in heritage preservation in tandem with arts and entertainment outside of the major metropolitan areas is attracting local families and domestic tourists at high numbers, even exceeding the capacity of these historic spaces. As Saudi Arabia continues to develop and promote Al-Ahsa as a tourist destination, funding the highly anticipated ENVI Al Nakheel eco-lodge, for example, foreign tourism will likely grow as well.

Saudi investment in arts and culture is apparent, not only in the impressive curation of global talent and events in Riyadh and Jeddah, but also in concerted efforts to cater entertainment offerings to conservative audiences. From a sold-out show with Saudi singers Mohammed Abdu and Khalid Abdulrahman in the historic Mithnab Village of Al-Qassim province to recurring festivals in Habala, Taif, and other communities, levels of government are working in tandem to ensure Vision 2030 is realized even in the remotest corners of this vast kingdom, serving not only foreign tourists, but domestic and local visitors as well.