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Jeddah - Yasmine El Tohamy - RIYADH: Jazan showcased its most famous attractions here recently for the media, as part of its bid to attract more tourists and investment, including for its rapidly expanding coffee industry.

An Arab News team was on the Flynas A320neo aircraft bearing the logo “Saudi Coffee Year 2022” that landed at King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Airport in Jazan for the four-day tour.

The trip, organized by the Khieer Saudi Arabia endowment body, saw journalists taken to visit coffee farms in the Faifa and Bani Malik areas.

The Arab News team went to Ahmed Al-Malki’s farm where he and his family use coffee beans to make various products.

“We are producing many things, such as coffee soap, coffee oil, lip balm, and scrub, and in the future … we are (also) planning to produce coffee bean sugar,” Al-Malki said.

“Coffee oil is produced for the first time in Saudi Arabia here, and it is extracted from solid coffee fruits. The extraction period takes two months. It is considered one of the most expensive oils in the world. Among its benefits are relieving skin diseases, thickening hair, relieving cellulite, and others,” he said.

Dafer Al-Fahad, director general of Jazan Mountains Development Authority, told Arab News: “Jazan Province has many comparative advantages. The six mountainous governorates are full of investment opportunities especially in agriculture, agritourism, wellness tourism and heritage sites.”

“At the beginning of this year, we signed an MoU with Saudi Aramco to establish a state-of-the-art Saudi Coffee Center and currently, we are in discussions with the Saudi Coffee Company, a subsidiary of the PIF (Public Investment Fund), to set up the Saudi Coffee Academy, and with the Ministry of Culture to establish a Saudi Coffee Museum.”

Jazan province has many comparative advantages. The six mountainous governorates are full of investment opportunities especially in agriculture, agritourism, wellness tourism and heritage sites.

Dafer Al-Fahad, Director general of Jazan Mountains Development Authority

“In the past few years, we have distributed over 1 million coffee seedlings to all farmers, and we continue supporting initiatives by Saudi Aramco and MEWA (Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture) to serve coffee farmers in and outside the province of Jazan. We also provide training, guidance, and contemporary farming techniques to ensure that all farming lands in the region are fully utilized and strategic objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision (2030) are met.”

The tour forms part of Flynas’ efforts to promote sustainable economic development, and boost the nation’s tourism industry. In particular, the airline is promoting the world-famous Saudi Khawlani coffee on boarding passes and passenger registration signs at airports, and offering customers free cups of the brew on flights until the end of the year.

The trip was supported by Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Ali Al-Sane, chairman of the board of directors of the Mohammed Al-Ali Al-Sane Foundation, which supports the Khieer Saudi Arabia endowment body. The Hayyak Company was an organizing partner, and Ayman Al-Suhayyan and Partners Company a legal partner.