· The session also shined a spotlight on the growing opportunities for women in the region’s tourism industry
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 4 May 2023: The ITIC Middle East Tourism Investment Session has presented their annual ATM Investment Summit meeting at ATM 2023. Exploring the economic outlook for regional tourism, the session also delved into the relationship between sustainability and investment in the sector as well as the growing opportunities for women in the Middle East, focusing on Oman as a case study.
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Hosted
by Gerald Lawless, Director ITIC Ltd, Invest Tourism Ltd and Ambassador WTTC,
the summit opened with Nicolas Mayer, Global Tourism Leader PWC and Nicholas
Maclean, Chairman and Managing Director CBRE Middle East. Sharing an optimistic
view on the market Maclean said: “One of the key asset classes which is
attracting special interest, particularly in the GCC is the opportunity for
investors to capitalise on the hospitality industry. The profile of investors
in the GCC is much more long term than in other markets around the world.”
Saudi
Arabia is a particular growth area for the GCC region with the Kingdom
recording 93.5 million tourists in 2022. Commenting on the investment situation
in Saudi, Mayer said: “In Saudi Arabia there is an acceleration of not just
hotels and rooms, but the creation of entire destinations which entails a
number of different asset classes, be it in entertainment, human capacity
building or experiences. The tourism industry is seen as a transformational
sector when it comes to meeting sustainability goals and the sustainability
aspect is now front and centre when it comes to investment in the Kingdom.”
The
sustainability segment of the ITIC session was moderated by BBC Anchor Sameer
Hashmi and the speakers for this session included: Amr El Kady, CEO, Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board; Dr. Abed
Al Razzaq Arabiyat, Managing Director of Jordan Tourism Board, H.E. Edmund
Bartlett, Minister of Tourism Jamaica, Raki Phillips, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah
Tourism Development Authority; Maher Abou Nasr, Vice President Operations, KSA,
IHG; and Hamza Farooqui, Founder & CEO, Millat Investments.
In terms of the challenges that sustainability
presents to the tourism industry, aligning green policies across the public and
private sector was highlighted as a priority. Global cooperation across
countries is also vital as industry players work towards a common
sustainability goal.
The
panel agreed that beyond policy, ‘people’ are the most important consideration
when it comes to sustainability in tourism. Bartlett concluded: “Globally,
tourism is the fastest recovering industry since the pandemic, but growth has
to be in harmony with sustainability. It’s about building people – because
tourism is about people. We want to make sure that the beneficiaries of
tourism, are the drivers of tourism. Tourism is about the environment and without
the environment there is no tourism, therefore the sector has to be the
custodian of climate management.”
According to the UN World Trade Organisation
(WTO), women make up 54% of the workforce in tourism globally and almost a
quarter of tourism ministers are women. Discussing the opportunities for women
in tourism, Elizabeth Maclean, Co-Managing Director, Herdwick Communications
interviewed Dr. Lubna Bader Salim Al Mazroei, Manager Economic Diversification
Investments, Oman Investment Authority during the ITIC session.
Tourism is one of the main industries in Oman
which is helping to diversify the economy and create employment opportunities
for the local population. As part of its efforts to boost the tourism industry
in the region, the Oman government established the Oman Tourism College in
2001. When the facility first opened, there were approximately 80 female
students and this number has risen to 400 in 2023. Women now work across several areas of the
local tourism industry with roles in hotels, airlines, restaurants and tours.
Concluding the session, Al Mazroei said: “Tourism is a dynamic and
multidisciplinary industry with exciting opportunities to pursue. The nature of
the work in the sector gives you the opportunity for personal development, as
well as to develop interpersonal and technical skills that will help you with
your career growth – and to find your competitive edge.
“When
the Ministry of Tourism was established in Oman in 2004, the first Minister of
Tourism was a woman. Our target is to create 500,000 jobs in Oman tourism by
2040 and to further strengthen the
Oman tourism sector, we are implementing new education, training and employment
initiatives. We have a dedicated Human Capital department that is overseeing
all of the needs of the sector and this department is managed mostly by women.”
The
30th edition of Arabian Travel Market (ATM),
will run from 1-4 May 2023 at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).
ATM 2023 is held in
conjunction with Dubai World Trade Centre and its strategic partners include
Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) as the Destination Partner,
Emirates as the Official Airline Partner, IHG Hotels & Resorts as the Official Hotel Partner and Al Rais
Travel as the Official DMC Partner.
The
latest ATM news stories are available at https://hub.wtm.com/category/press/atm-press-releases/.
Tags: Amr El Kady, Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board, Dr. Abed Al Razzaq Arabiyat, Jordan Tourism Board, Edmund Bartlett, Tourism Jamaica, Raki Phillips, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, Maher Abou Nasr, KSA, IHG, Hamza Farooqui, Millat Investments, Gerald Lawless, ITIC Ltd, Invest Tourism Ltd, Ministry of Tourism Oman, WTO, ATM 2023
