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Egypt’s Tourism Minister said that figures show the country was not as affected by the global economic crisis as much as was feared, and 2010 also looks promising. Zoheir Garranah said that the number of incoming tourists is expected to rise significantly next year because of steps Egypt took to weather the financial storm, and the initial recovery from the global economic downturn. Garranah told the Oxford…
The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) has started issuing group visas. Procedures are in place to issue group visas for citizens of up to 65 non-Arab countries. Director General of the license department at SCTA said the group visa will be issued to a minimum of a group of four tourists. Ahmad Al Eisa said that it is very easy for any group intending to visit to obtain the visas from Saudi…
A senior official at the Ministry of Interior clarified that visas issued for visit, transit, and tourism are valid only for a single entry into the UAE. Visitors can’t make a trip to a neighboring country and then return using the same permit. Director General of the Dubai General Department for Residency and Foreign Affairs explained “A visitor needs to get a new entry permit to re-enter the country once he…
One of the biggest online French travel agencies, “quotidiendutourisme.com” announced that Tunisia has ranked as the second most popular destination by its customers. Leclerc’s list of favorite destinations ranks France first with 35 percent of the total number of passengers, Tunisia ranks second at 13 percent, followed by Morocco at 8 percent, and continental Spain (7 percent). Tunisia recently ranked as…
P lans to sail the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) to Cape Town, South Africa for the World Cup football finals this summer have been cancelled. Cape Town port authorities said there is not enough time to accommodate the ship for its required length at the city’s port. The British ocean liner is currently berthed at Port Rashid in Dubai. Istithmar World, the investment arm of Dubai World, owns the QE2. Istithmar…
Shoppers and visitors will be entertained with daily fireworks and performances by over 120 artists from around the world at the 15th edition of the Dubai Shopping Festival, which begins tomorrow, January 28th, 2010. The fireworks display will take place every day of the festival, which runs until February 28th, in the Al Seef area next to Dubai Creek, starting at 8:30 pm. Performers displaying their…
Government statistics show that the number of tourists visiting Syria last year increased 12 percent compared to 2008. Syria received about six million tourists in 2009, including 1.1 million Syrian expatriates and 3.5 million Arabs. There are a number of important sites of antiquities in Syria, including the ancient city of Palymra. Industry specialists say Syria’s practice of deeming nearly every foreigner…
Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) will carry out a one year research project on Al Jabal al Akhdar (The Green Mountain). Vice Chairman of SQU, Amer al Rawas signed the research project agreements with Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Mohammed al Toobi in Oman yesterday. The research project aims to find ways of integrating the local community in the tourist business around Al Jabal al Akhdar, which…
Minister of Municipalities in Kurdistan, Iraq met with representatives of a Swiss-Russian company to talk about several projects in the region. According to an official statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency, “The projects include the establishment of a 220km highway between Zakho and Arbil, and a 75 km green belt around Arbil…” The company said it is prepared to disburse $4 million US dollars on…
Brilliance of the Seas, Royal Caribbean International’s new cruise ship, has finished the first leg of a five stop, seven day winter cruise of the Arabian Gulf. The cruise ship made her maiden docking in the new Khalifa Bin Salman port in Bahrain. Dr. Heba Aziz, Director and advisor for the Culture and Information Ministry, Tourism Sector, said Bahrain aims to become a major player in the Gulf’s cruise ship…
The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority is working hard to attract a certain leisurely type of visitor to Abu Dhabi, with new television advertizing campaigns focused on young couples, families, and empty nesters from higher socio-economic groups. Peter Willaton, who stopped over in Abu Dhabi for two days on his way to New York, fits into this category. Thirty-nine year old Mr. Willaton, the Australian owner of…
Health tourism is gaining in prominence and becoming more popular in Saudi Arabia, according to a recent report by Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA). The report said that citizens and expatriates together spent more than 800 million Saudi Riyals (Dh783 million) on health and medical tourism in 2007, and foreign tourists spent more than 400 million riyals for treatment in the…
L ebanon’s Tourism Ministry released figures this week showing 1,851,081 tourists visited Lebanon in 2009, 39 percent higher than in 2008, and the highest ever recorded number of tourists to this mountainous Arab nation. The ministry said the 2009 number beat the 1974 record of 1.4 million tourists. Before Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, Beirut was known as the “Paris of the Middle East” Tourism Minister…
Konstanze Auernheimer, Director of Marketing for STR Global, said the Gulf’s hospitality sector should improve in the second half of the year if the economy stays on its current path. He said there will probably be declines in all form factors in the region, because the spending power of tourists has been reduced due to the economic slowdown. STR Global data shows that there was a fall in all three key…
International hotel and resort company Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI), announced Tuesday that it’s revenue per available room (RevPar) declined 11 percent in 2009 compared to the previous year. KHI is owned by Prince Alaweed bin Talal al Saud. Performance improved 3 percent in the three months ending on December 31, 2009, but RevPar in the Middle East during this period fell 7 percent. KHI said that “the…
The United Nations World Tourism Organization forecasts that international tourist arrivals will increase between 3-4 percent in 2010, following a difficult year in 2009 when tourist arrivals fell about 4 percent. UNWTO said “prospects have also improved with arrivals forecast to grow between three and four percent in 2010. This outlook is confirmed by the remarkable rise of the UNWTO Panel of Experts…
Egyptian archeologists have discovered the remains of an ancient Greek temple dedicated to the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet. The remains were unearthed in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, according to the antiquities department. The remains of a temple of Queen Berenike were discovered in the Kom al-Dikka area in Alexandria. Queen Berenike was the wife of King Ptolemy III, who ruled Egypt between 246 and…
Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, one of the biggest ocean liners in the region, set sail from Dubai today. The cruise ship is expected to bring in 32,000 passengers to the region in its first four month season, tapping into the US$25 billion (Dh91.82bn) cruise market. Brilliance of the Seas can hold about 2,500 guests. research shows that cruise tourists spend an average of more than $300 per visit,…
