Ashar is one of the project sites selected by the royal commission of Al Ula (RCU) to develop the county into a world class tourist destination. This significant site, about 28km2 wide, is located 10km away from Hegra’s famous necropolis (UNESCO World Heritage Site), and 43km away from the airport. It hosts since 2018 the yearly edition of “Winter at Tantora”, a festival celebrating nature, heritage, and art. After the success of the first edition of the festival, the RCU has launched in 2019 an initiative to transform Ashar’s temporary developments into a permanent thriving cultural destination.

Considered as one of the key pilot projects within the county, the planning process combines a long term visioning and masterplanning strategy of the site with the year-by-year delivery of new facilities and services to support the tourism promotion in Al Ula.

The landscape strategy developed as part of this study addresses both the development planned in the short term, the work to be carried out for the next edition of Tantora edition (beautification of the site and upgrading of the existing facilities, tents and villas, flood risk mitigation, and migration from temporary to permanent infrastructures), and the overall strategy for long term development.