SR13m in prizes for Saudi provincial camel pageant
Registration open in Tabuk festival due to kick off in June
Cairo: Over SR13 million in prizes will be offered for competitors in Saudi Arabia’s first provincial camel festival scheduled for next month.
The prizes have been earmarked by the Saudi Camel Club for the event due to be held in Tabuk region in northern Saudi Arabia in June, the Saudi news agency SPA reported.
Registration for the festival has started on May 12 and will end Wednesday for the productive stallion camel category while registration in other categories will run until June 3.
The organising committee said it is necessary for camels registered to participate in the productive stallion category to show up over the period from May 21 to June 3 to undergo paternity tests.
No-showing will lead to invalidation from participation, it added.
“By organising festivals, the club aims to highlight this sector, its rich heritage, introduce economic stimulation, and activate sale and purchase deals,” ”aid Saud bin Hathleen, the manager of the Provincial Festivals at the Saudi Camel Club.
35,000 participants
Saudi Arabia annually hosts the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, the world’s such biggest pageant.
Around 1.8 million fans flocked to the flaghship camel event in its latest edition that ran for 45 days and concluded last January near the capital Riyadh, according to officials.
A total of 35,000 camels competed in the seventh edition of the festival against 24,000 in the sixth edition.
Camels are a popular animal closely linked to heritage in Saudi Arabia.
The animal has long been dubbed as the “ship of the desert”, being the lifeline for desert dwellers.
In recent years, the camel business has remarkably grown in the kingdom.
There are around 1.8 million camels with a market value of over SR50 billion in Saudi Arabia, according to official figures.