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11/21/08, 16:50:10 UTC
Today's News
Establishing a Think Tank, Main Aim of Islamic Tourism Conf.chnpress.com According to secretary of the International Conference on Tourism of Islamic Countries, some rules and frameworks should be defined in order to find new approaches in promoting tourism industry in Islamic countries.“What we mean by Islamic countries are 57 member states of Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), all of whom enjoy high potentials in tourism,” said Maleki. Presenting some statistics about annual tourism revenue earned by Islamic countries, Maleki said: “While in the year 2005, the total tourism revenue in the world reached 860 billion US Dollars, the share of Islamic countries amounted only to 35 billion USD.” He further explained that Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are the only representatives from Islamic countries that are currently standing among the top 25 tourist-absorbing countries of the world. These countries have a share of 6.4 percent of the roughly 10 percent tourists who travel to Islamic countries each year while the remaining 3.6 percent is shared by the other 53 countries. Speaking of some of the major goals behind the upcoming Islamic Tourism Conference, managing director of CHN, Marjan Sheikholeslami, said that the conference is hoping to encourage the private sector in Islamic countries to take a more active participation in the tourism industry and added: “Improving tourism industry in all countries including Islamic countries requires the active participation of the private sector and should not be exclusive to governments.” According to the secretary of the Conference, Islamic countries enjoy enormous potentials in the tourism industry which have somehow been neglected due to existence of some cultural parameters which sometimes threaten this industry in Islamic countries. “Islamic countries can play a major role in the tourism market and turn into target countries for world tourists only if they become more acquainted with this industry and understand its needs,” added Maleki. The secretary of the International Conference on Tourism of Islamic Countries strongly believes that tourism industry should not bring any changes to the rules and regulations practiced in a country. “While taking into account all the existing circumstances and regulations in Islamic countries, we must try to find some fundamental approaches to improve their tourism industry,” concluded Maleki. The International Conference on Tourism of Islamic Countries is organized by Cultural Heritage News Agency with supports received from Iran’s Chamber of Commerce. The conference will be inaugurated next week in Tehran. 
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published Feb 26, 2007
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