ME records best 2008 tourism growth figures globally

TOURISM TRAIL: At a recently organised summit in Qatar, the UNWTO identified the key issues facing tourism human resources in the Middle East region. (Getty Images)

In terms of tourist arrivals, the Middle East was the star performer among the regions of the world in 2008, the latest study by the United Nations World Organisation Tourism (UNWTO) has revealed.

According to the January 2009 issue of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, in 2008, international tourist arrivals worldwide increased by two percent. The Middle East registered the best performance among all world regions with 11 percent 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 percent, the issue said.

At a recently organised summit in Qatar, the UNWTO identified the key issues facing tourism human resources in the Middle East region.

The summit noted that the longer-term challenges for the region include the poor image and lack of understanding of tourism jobs, and the fact that availability of labour and skills is highly variable across the region.

In addition, the summit demonstrated the complexity of the labour markets in the region and constantly returned to the fact that the rapid growth of tourism in the region brings with it issues of labour supply gaps and skills shortage.

It urged the need to change the mindset of both governments and communities towards employment in tourism, as well as the need for the industry to change its view of human resources to one that values peoples, their skills and knowledge, develops them and treats them as valued resources.

The summit also harped the need to understand the labour markets and the need for re-engineering education and training.

Professor Chris Cooper, the summit’s moderator, said: “The message of this summit is clear – tourism is a people-centered industry, the sector must invest in the education, training and development of the labour force to secure the future.”

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READERS' COMMENTS

2008
Posted by Sam on Saturday 25 April 2009 at 10:52 UAE time


Great Info, but can we get information about 2009, till now CEOs, Analysts, car dealships, real estate agencies are only talking about 2008 results, as if it's a way to avoid the biitter reality, and the current situation we are all in, and which no one especially our high profile anaysts in this region couldn't anticipate........

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