Hala February Festival Start
The opening of Kuwait's annual Hala February festival, a month-long shopping and entertainment extravaganza that takes its name from the Arabic word for "welcome." The festival was launched in 1998 to boost tourism and retail spending during the cooler winter months, and it has since become one of the largest festivals in the Gulf. The Avenues Mall, the largest shopping center in the Middle East, hosts concerts by Arab pop stars, fireworks displays over the Kuwait Bay, and massive sales that draw shoppers from across the GCC. The festival is a celebration of consumption, but it is also a celebration of Kuwait's openness to the world.