By Jimoh Babatunde
Tourists visiting the country during the World Cup period have been warned   not to fall prey to people offering them currency conversions through the black market, police said on Monday.

“Our visitors may be approached with the ‘best deal’ to change their currency for the South African rand and they could end up with counterfeit R200 notes,” said Colonel Vishnu Naidoo.

The warning comes after the SA Reserve Bank said it would no longer print the old R200 notes, opting for a new one with heightened security features, after counterfeit notes were found circulating.

“Tourists and soccer fans are advised to exchange their currency through legitimate financial institutions only,” he said South Africans were also warned to be weary of the circulation of these
notes.

The security forces are on top of this situation and adhering to our calls to heed to this warning will help us a great deal in our efforts to prevent people from becoming victims of this scam.”

Saudi Summer 2010 to be launched next week Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, President of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), will launch next week the “Saudi Summer 2010” activities.

Concurrently, a press conference will be held in conjunction with its Provincial Tourism Organizations (PTOs) along with the steering committees of the festivals at the Marriott Hotel in Riyadh. During the press conference, detailed information will be provided on the festivals and tourism events for summer season this year.

The conference will be accompanied by an exhibition displaying the pavilions of various festivals, in collaboration with a number of tourism operators. In the exhibition, a number of leaflets and brushers on the festivals programs will be distributed to the visitors. Mr. Hamad Al Sheikh, director general of Tourism Programs and Products said:

“This conference aims to highlight the summer tourism events and activities, their important role in tourism attraction, as well as realizing the prospective economic revenues.