Author: Glenn Liza Varghese
AlUla, The World’s Masterpiece
Saudi Arabia’s UNESCO Heritage Site, AlUla is one of the oldest cities around 2000 years old. The city is now known for its culture, art, and nature tourism and with the latest developments to bring sustainable development through transportation. Their goal is to use energy-saving technology which will be a major motivation for tourism in the country so that they can step away from dependence on fuels as a generation of the economy.
AlUla is famous for the five districts: Hegra Historical City District, Nabataean Horizon DIstrict, Jabal Ikmah District, Dadan District, and AlUla Old Town District.
Hegra is prominent among the other four districts because of its distinguished features such as having more than 100 tombstones carved from the sandstone outcrops.
With the increase in tourist attraction in recent years, the Saudi government has planned to renovate the districts with sustainable transportation such as trams in which people are able to view the scenery as well as build a hotel that uses energy-saving ideas by 2035.
The aim of the governorate is to have carbon-neutral transportation by 2035 by ensuring a reduction in traffic congestion. The plan talks about the idea that people will use bicycles, and the tram which is 46 km long in the main transportation line, to decrease the amount of pollution created by motor vehicles and at the same time, individuals are able to enjoy the scenery for the districts.
The major idea behind this renovation is that people are able to understand the importance of biodiversity and the conservation of energy. The tram line system imitates the 20th-century style of trams.
The plan is to be inclusive of designs in terms of adopting the styles and nature of historic civilization that was present in AlUla and the tram will be working on electric lines. At each station, which is a total of 17 stations, there are racks that are shared with e-bikes to travel around.
The government wants to make sure that even noise pollution is avoided through sustainable designs and planning which also help people understand the benefits of sustainable living.
Among their plans is to build a hotel which is in the shape of a rock which has all the amenities like any hotel but every aspect of it is thought of, planned, and built through sustainable living and designs.
Sustainable tourism helps in the development of the environment, economy, and sociocultural features of the country. The environmental factor contributes to the conservation of biodiversity which in turn, helps in maintaining the ecological processes. The economic factor helps to boost the economy of the country to increase in tourism as well as ensures smooth growth.
The country also benefits from features such as conservation of traditional values, cultural heritage, and more tolerance towards various ethnicities.
Thus, AlUla is a perfect example of sustainable tourism development which plans to give back to the environment, economy, and socio-cultural features of Saudi Arabia.
Image Credit: Abdulla Dahiri, Unsplash
Jabal Ikmah District, Royal Commission for AlUla
Reference: Euronews
Add Comment