Exploring 13 regions of the Kingdom.
On National Day weekend, students and staff of Jeddah College of Advertising (JCA) turned the patriotic occasion into an exploration of Saudi Arabia’s major regions with their travel campaign Our Country Calls On Us.
Salwa Bankhar, Head of Industry Relations, explained, “Traveling helps in self-development, and we as a society tend to lean towards exploring other countries. With this initiative, we are bringing self-development to our local grounds. The youth play a big part in the country’s development, and in order to develop it they need to grasp its beauty.“
13 groups of 8 students, staff and faculty, set off to explore and document the major sites in 13 regions of the Kingdom – Jeddah, Makkah, Madina, Riyadh, Dammam, Hail, Tabuk, Al Jouf, Arar, Jizan, Abha, Baha and Al Qasim.
Dr. Haneen Mohammed Shoaib, Dean of JCA, explained the campaign’s inspiration, “The initiative comes from the vision of the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Abdullah Sadeq Dahlan, to contribute in promoting internal tourism as a national duty. Through this, the university expresses its loyalty and belonging to Saudi Arabia and its leadership. We hope this campaign becomes the catalyst of many creative campaigns to celebrate the wonderful Kingdom.”
Our Country Calls On Us was able to deeply influence the youth’s sense of patriotism and their pride in their nation. During their trip, the students documented their experience on social media and on STC’s website Unveil Saudi. Dr. Shoaib comments, “All of them felt a sense of duty to bring out the best of the region they were visiting. That mission made them put all their efforts into completing their tasks in the best way possible.”
The overall aim of the travel campaign is to engage students to explore and share their experience with the public. Creative Design Lecturer Sarah Zuhairy comments, “The show of excitement and adventure in such an experience will definitely encourage others to follow the JCA youth’s footsteps in discovering Saudi Arabia’s true beauty.”
Our Country Calls On Us hopes to change people’s perception and attitude about tourism in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps the shining jewel of this campaign is that it was initiated by the students themselves in an attempt to create a concept that would reflect their pride in the Kingdom.
Look out for future issues of the magazine for insightful coverage from each of the regions visited by JCA students and staff!
