Qatar Tourism and Exhibitions Authority attend the 12th Session of the Arab Tourism Ministers Council

Headed by Mr Ahmed Al Nuaimi, Chairman of Qatar Tourism and Exhibitions Authority, the Qatari delegation comprises as well Mr. Jabor Al-Mohannadi, Head of Public and International Relations, and Mr. Mohammed Hafnawi, Legal Advisor.

This 12th session will discuss the conclusions of recent Arab Economic Summit, and the consequences of the economic crisis on the tourism sector as top-agenda priorities.

The strategy for Arab tourism will be a major topic, dealing with tourism investments, training of tourism professionals and development of new touristic zones.

The comprehensive meeting will also discuss the measurement of tourism statistics, to better serve the new regional strategy.

A future Memorandum of Understanding to be signed between the Arab League States and the Union of South-America Sates will be discussed, in order to strengthen exchange of expertise between the two touristic region.

Arab ministers for Tourism will also determine the Arab tourism capital for the year 2010 and 2011, and the new logo for the Arab Tourism Ministers Council.

Mr Ahmed Al Nuaimi, Chairman of Qatar Tourism and Exhibitions Authority, commented : "The session of the Arab Tourism Ministers Council is of utmost importance, as Arab States are facing the economic crisis, notably in the tourism sector which is an economic pillar for several Arab countries. This meeting will enable us to exchange innovative ideas and expertise to overcome this situation. The Middle East tourism sector performed well in 2008, and we need to keep this pace for the coming years."

According to the January 2009 issue of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, the Middle East registered the best performance among all world regions with 11 % growth in international tourist arrivals in 2008 over the previous year.

Based on passenger traffic data from worldwide airports for the first two months of 2009, it appears that of all the world regions, the Middle East is the least affected by the global crisis thus far. It was the only region with a positive traffic growth of 3.1 %.