Pan Arab tourism drive needed, says Sheikh Abdullah

Sheikh Abdullah made the call after he opened the largest ever Arabian Travel Market, the Middle East's premier travel and tourism show, which opened at the Dubai World Trade Centre today.

The Minister told journalists: 'We are proud of the UAE's tourism industry which has been activated by public and private sector efforts. The UAE has set a good example in tourism generation and we hope this can now be repeated in the Arab world as a whole. We do not see tourism drives by other Middle East countries as competition but as complementary to our efforts.'

Sheikh Abdullah opened Arabian Travel Market 2004, which runs at the Dubai World Trade Centre until Friday evening, with a large entourage of VVIP guests. These included Sheikh Saeed Bin Saeed Al Sharqi, President of the Fujairah Tourism Bureau; Akhbar Al Baker, the head of Qatar Airways; Mohsin Haider Al Balushi, Tourism Director General, Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Oman; Prince Sultan Bin Salman, President, Supreme Commission for Tourism of Saudi Arabia and Prince AbdulAziz, Vice Chairman of the Investment Division of the Supreme Commission and His Excellency Sheikh Hasher Bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, Director General, Department of Information, Government of Dubai.

Also at the show were His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President, Department of Civil Aviation, Government of Dubai and His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saif Al Nahyan, Chairman of Etihad Airlines.

HH Sheikh Abdulla spent several hours touring the show accompanied by Khalid bin Sulayem, Director General, Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Government of Dubai and Tom Nutley, Chairman of Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE), which organises Arabian Travel Market.

Later Sheikh Abdulla praised the organisation of Arabian Travel Market 2004, which features over 1,400 exhibitors from 55 countries.

'The organisers have exerted significant effort to make both this event, and participation by UAE companies at their other overseas event, a tremendous success,' he said.

Sheikh Abdullah said the UAE is now receiving more than four million tourists a year. 'This is an excellent number when you consider it is larger than the entire population of the UAE.

'The show also coincides with a meeting of Arab Information Ministers being held in the UAE - and the two events demonstrate our confidence in the country's ability to host major events. In the future we look forward to hosting a conference about tourism in the Arab world in which the UAE will feature as a case study and example to be followed.'

Questioned about the impact of global terrorism on tourism, Sheikh Abdullah emphasised the UAE's reputation as a stable and safe environment. 'That this reputation exists is demonstrated by the fact that the number of people coming to the country is growing. We work hard to keep the UAE stable and safe and we oppose all forms of terrorism, which is, in fact, outside of all Islamic principles.

'We have worked hard to build our tourism infrastructure. The tourism landmarks in this country are largely man-made - and we're proud of it.'

Arabian Travel Market is now in its 11th year and is 30% larger than last year. 'The growth has been unprecedented this year but we still can see areas of further development to come,' said Tom Nutley.