Tourism & Hospitality | Monday 6 July, 2015 4:27 am |

Since the launch of the Asir Initiative, “Asir … a major tourism destination all year round,” under the patronage of Asir Governor and Chairman of the Tourism Development Council Prince Faisal bin Khalid at the end of 2013, the region has managed to implement three of the initiative’s plans to make Asir the best tourism destination by 2020.
Abha was recently awarded the Arab Tourism Capital for the year 2017 by the Arab Tourism Organization (ATO), a body belonging to the Arab League. The award comes as a result of the efforts made by Prince Faisal to make the initiative successful.
The initiative involves the establishment and construction of several tourism projects, some of which have been completed while others are still under construction. 
The newly built modern road networks greatly helped in linking the region with all regions of the country, in addition to flights to the main cities of the Kingdom and Gulf countries through Abha International Airport, which is currently being developed and expanded within the initiative to receive an increasing number of international flights and visitors. 
The initiatives mentioned above involved the implementation of many projects, including the development of Al-Sudah Park which will soon be ready to receive visitors. 
Another project involves completing the services road in King Abdul Aziz National Park, preparing about 150 umbrellas to accommodate visitors, and lighting the main road reaching the Telefèric Carriages (or cable cars).