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www.breakingtravelnews.com World Travel Awards 2006
12th March 2006
Nominations are announced See Special Supplement
Travel Tech: A Big Focus for ITB
Plus winners list from 2005 awards
see pp 6
Far Reaching Hotel Website Launched See page 8
Plans to boost Mideast tourism Boosting tourism levels to the Middle East is a priority for achieving sustainable economic development in the region, that is just one of the conclusions from a recent travel summit in Jordan. "Tourism in the Middle East would overcome the repercussions of instability," Munir Nasser, Jordan's tourism minister told more than 400 global tourism industry leaders at the Middle East Travel and Tourism Summit. "We can expect to attract investment in the hotel, spa and airport sectors." The recent two-day summit on the Jordanian shore of the Dead Sea gathered tourism ministers, regional carriers and property developers from 20 countries, including Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Britain although Israel did not participate in the event.
The event focused on the rise of the tourism industry in the region. Annual passenger traffic growth for 2005-09 is expected to average 6.6 percent between the Middle East and Europe and 6.7 percent on Middle East-Asia Pacific routes, according to IATA. In recent years Middle Eastern carriers have also been swelling the order books of aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus, and that looks set to continue. Boeing forecasts Middle Eastern carriers will buy nearly 870 airplanes from all makers, worth $115 billion, between 2005 and 2024. The region achieved $108.5 billion
in tourism revenues in 2005 and represents some $20.3 billion in GDP for the region, according to World Travel and Tourism Council. This is also expected to grow by 3.9 percent per annum from now until 2014. The UK Trade and Investment body and Jordan's Tourism Board both organised the event and have expressed a need for a rise in the level of cooperation between public and private sectors in the travel industry, as well as regional tourism developments. "The cooperation we have had so far between these sectors is giving the right kind of push forward,"
Nasser told the Associated Press on the sidelines of the conference. The event stressed that despite last year's hotel blasts in the capital Amman, which killed 63 people, Jordan for the first time earned $1.4 billion from its tourism industry and the country is still on track to attracting $2.4 billion in revenues by 2010. "We want to create 51,000 additional jobs in the industry," Nasser said. "It's an ambitious goal. But from the indications and performance we have had in 2005 and the indications of what we have on the books in 2006, I am pretty confident we will get there if not
exceed it slightly." The conference also explored other issues including security, the preservation of historic sites and ways to broaden sport, spa and religious tourism. Emerging markets were also a focus including Libya, Sudan and Iraq. Sponsorship for the event came partly from the Bahrain International Circuit, which draws international attention to the kingdom each year with its Grand Prix. This year, the race will mark the opening round of the Formula One, reaching an estimated 400 million viewers worldwide and serving as a platform to promote tourism to Bahrain. Story continues on page three
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