HE Saad bin Ali Al Kharji, Chairperson, Qatar Tourism, declared that the tourism sector across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states stands poised to ascend into prominence as a premier global destination.
During the 8th Meeting of GCC Tourism Ministers hosted at Waldorf Astoria Lusail, he attributed this potential to the region’s strong economy and advantageous investment ecosystem. Highlighting the GCC’s competitive edge, Al Kharji accentuated the area’s financial resiliency and supportive atmosphere for foreign direct investment, along with sophisticated infrastructure encompassing transportation and lodgings, plus a strategically central locale bridging Eastern and Western regions, thus enabling substantial visitor volumes.
Al Kharji remarked, “The GCC can become one of the most significant tourist destinations internationally owing to its progressive infrastructure spanning transit systems, hoteliery, etc. Its pivotal placement connecting the East and the West empowers our respective countries to host considerable quantities of tourists”. Comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, the GCC boasts influential airliners like Qatar Airways and Emirates, which interlink regional attractions with major global gateways.
Notably, Kuwait Airways earned accolades as the globe’s most improved carrier.
Emphasising the burgeoning influence of the tourism domain beyond oil exports, Al Kharji envisioned even broader prospects if united visas materialise and deeper synergies develop amongst GCC members concerning touristic endeavors. “Indeed, the notable accomplishments achieved by the tourism segment in our territories over precedent years render it among the foremost non-petroleum fiscal pillars of our Gulf State. Through introducing collective passport privileges and cultivating supplemental instruments for cooperative tourism advancement amid GCC countries, we may attain extensive socioeconomic progress in our homelands”, he said.
Reiterating the critical function of tourism in broadening the GCC’s earnings portfolio, Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary General, HE Jassim Mohamed Al Bedawi, underlined the field’s paramountcy in propelling economic and societal evolution. Stressing intensified partnerships and devising shared tactics to harness the region’s abundant historic, environmental, and sociocultural assets, Al Bedawi asserted, “Clearly, tourism in the Gulf represents a fundamental catalyst for macroeconomic growth and cross-cultural understanding.
Enhanced coordination and crafting common blueprints enable us to maximise our affluent legacy, ecological variety, unique character traits, ultimately uplifting our standing as a preeminent vacation spot on Earth”.
Concurring with these views, Kuwait’s Minister of Media and Culture, HE Abdulraman Badah Al Muteri, reinforced the essential part played by the tourism trade in fortifying steadiness, safety, and flourishing conditions. Citing the necessity to exploit the region’s hereditary wealth, climatic variation, and city planning prowess to amplify appeal as a holiday hotspot, Al Muteri confirmed Kuwait’s resolve to champion concerted initiatives inside the GCC intended to refine the standard and desirability of the tourism sphere.