Arab Gulf sees rise in Tourism

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Arab Gulf sees rise in tourism by more than 2 percent with revenues up more than 10 percent, according to UrbaCon Construction & Trading.

Lusail Iconic Stadium (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Visiting the desert is now an attractive alternative in the agenda of a seasoned tourist, a location which is becoming increasingly developed with high-end ecofriendly resorts, luxurious shopping malls, five-star hotels, and residential-business complexes. The growth of tourism is reflected in the quick pace in which projects are being developed in the major cities such as Dubai(UAE) and Doha (Qatar).

According to the World Tourism Organization, tourism in the Arab region grew in 2014 by two percent as a result of increased traffic in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and indicates revenues from tourism in the Gulf region went up by as much as 10.4 per cent in the year 2015. The increase in the number of visitors creates a need for construction of new real estate and growth of the service industry.

Executive Director Moataz Al-Khayyat, at UrbaCon Construction & Trading, understands the importance of these changes, and has taken the initiative to mobilize tourism in the Middle East. Al-Khayyat who reported that “Qataris moving strongly towards the implementation of green real estate projects, which reduces both the negative impacts of buildings on the environment as well as the construction operating costs,” has encouraged a more educated workforce and an increase of ecofriendly building materials.

The choices for tourist visiting major cities in the Middle East is continuously increasing including such projects-in-development as Lusail City, a futuristic, planned city estimated to cost $45 billion with modern artistic architectural elements—a model urban community in the Gulf region which is also scheduled to build the Lusail Iconic Stadium, where the finals of the World Cup will be played in 2022.

To meet the growth of tourism in the area, new innovative services and technologies are becoming mainstream, such as mobile apps designed for travelers to quickly book a stay, including flight, hotel, attractions, shopping locations, and recreational activities in the Gulf region. Travel agencies have adopted the “one package” policy which offers tourist everything from the application of mobile travel reservations to booking a camping trip in the desert, dinner on a posh yacht, to a tour of historical sites within one application.

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rayhanania

Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News

RAY HANANIA — Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster

Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.

Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).

Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.

Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.

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