Ministers and heads of Arabic and Foreign delegations taking part in the Arab World Travel and Tourism Exchange AWTTE 2008 today paid a visit to the speaker of Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri and the Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
Prominent among the delegates were Lebanese Minister of Tourism Elie Marouni and the president of Arab Ministerial Council for tourism the Jordanian Minister of Tourism Maha Khatib, Minister of Tourism in Kurdistan Region Yuhana Namrud, Deputy Secretary General of World Tourism Organization Dr. Taleb Al-Rifai, Chairman of Iraqi National Investment Promotion Ahmad Rida and General Manager of Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Raouf Abou Zaki.
The delegation started its official visits with a meeting with Prime Minister Siniora. The meeting focused on assessing the potential impact of the world financial crisis on Arab tourism. The participants agreed that the crisis will have limited effects on the Arab Tourism Industry, stressing at the same time the necessity for encouraging investment in tourism and removing hindrances such as pre-required visas. The delegation also met the speaker of Parliament Mr. Nabih Berri.
Lebanese Minister of Tourism Ellie Marouni deputizing for President General Michael Suleiman, opened yesterday the Arab World Travel & Tourism Exchange AWTTE 2008 in Biel. The event, which is organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal group will take place between the 16th and 19th October 2008. The event is held in cooperation with Middle East Airlines and is sponsored by Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL) as strategic partner, Rotana Hotels as host hotel and City Car as official car rental agency.
Minister Marouni commented by stressing the fact that the forum has been held successfully in Beirut notwithstanding regional tension and the world financial crisis which is now considered to be the worst financial upheaval that hit the world since the great depression of 1929. Mr Marouni added "This event proves beyond doubt Lebanon’s ability to regain its previous role as a touristic destination and a strong economy in the region.
Mr. Marouni praised the very positive role of Qatar and the Arab league in helping Lebanon to regain its internal entente and peaceful ways saying it is owing to them that we are now able to meet in Beirut. He added that the Doha accord allowed the election of President Michel Suleiman, in the first free presidential election in Lebanon since 1990.
Jordanian Minister of Tourism, Maha Al Khatib said: "since my appointment as the president of Arab Ministerial Council for tourism in its 11th round, I made sure to improve communication between Arab countries with view of highlighting to all the immense and unique tourism resources and opportunities we have in our countries. I believe we have huge untapped resources whether in cultural tourism or leisure tourism or even religious tourism. Khatib gave the example of Petra which was voted as one of the top wonders of the world and thus helped to increase tourism flows and income from tourism for the year 2008.
Chairman and General Manager of "IDAL" Nabil Itani, stressed the fact that Lebanon took the second place in investment flows for the period 2005-2007. Lebanon also came 10th among 141 countries worldwide. in 2007, financial flow to Lebanon represented 11.6 percent of the total GDP, and this is the highest share among all Arab countries. Moreover, the amount of FDIs reached 2.85 billion US, with an increase of 3.9 percent compared to the year 2006. Itani concluded by stressing that investment in the tourism sector amounted to 87 percent of the total investments that were dealt with by IDAL. .
In his opening speech, Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal General Manager Raouf Abou Zaki emphasized that “The participation in event by 14 Arab countries and a large number of companies and institutions representing the tourism industry indicates the growing importance of tourism as a major component in the GDPs of many Arab countries. Mr. Abu Zaki suggested that AWTTEE is playing an important role as the leading platform for monitoring trends and discussing the future of Arab tourism industry. Abu Zaki remarked that plans to develop Inter-Arab Tourism cannot be based on isolated measures taken by individual countries but requires a regionally coordinated effort to liberalize the market and facilitate the flow of tourism among regional markets.