It was a drizzling delight for Salalah as the 2016 edition of Salalah Tourism Festival (STF) began on Friday amid light, sound and fireworks at the Municipality Recreation Centre in Itin under this season’s theme of ‘Oman: Love and peace’. The news of light shower that started on Thursday night seems to have travelled to the neighbouring cities, giving the holidaymakers an excuse to rush to Salalah and spend a nice weekend. Luck would have it for them that they also enjoyed the opening of the STF. A dedicated team of Dhofar Municipality has taken charge of the festival, which is likely to have full of entertainment programmes for all. The one-and-a-half-month festival would have a total of 800 programmes in the festival enclosure. The enclosure is equipped with facilities like food court, rest rooms, prayer halls, shopping area, heritage section and a courtyard which depicts traditional way of living of the people of Oman. Economically, the festival generates job opportunity for many, as a 2015 data suggests that the event provided 15,000 indirect jobs last season. The festival is to showcase entertainment programmes of different countries as a part of the country’s endeavour for global peace and solidarity. At the global shopping village not less than 300 companies are showcasing their products, giving the visitors a shopping delight amidst leisurely entertainment activities and nice weather. The festival organisers have lined up several regional entertainment programmes keeping in mind huge turnout of visitors from GCC and other Arab countries. At least 25 folk bands are to showcase various regional performances during the festival.

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