AQABA - The Council of Arab Tourism Ministers has appointed Jordan president of its executive committee for a one-year term, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Haifa Abu Ghazaleh said.
As president of the committee, the Kingdom will be responsible for ensuring that the council's recommendations are put into action during the coming year.
The appointment was announced Friday at the 14th meeting of the council, which took place in Aqaba, the Capital of Arab Tourism for 2011.
During the meeting, in which the tourism ministers of 16 Arab countries participated, the council named Muscat, Oman, as the Capital of Arab Tourism for 2012, and Manama, Bahrain, for 2013.
In a press conference following the meeting, Bahrain's Minister of Culture and Tourism Mai Al Khalifeh said that the tourism ministers had discussed a proposal to cancel visa requirements among Arab countries, which each minister "will discuss... with the minister of interior in his country".
Requiring Arabs to acquire visas to visit other Arab countries currently constrains regional tourism, she said.
Al Khalifeh also noted that Arab countries' tourism promotion campaigns should complement each other and encouraged participating countries to promote themselves as tourist destinations in the Arab region.
During the meeting, Arab ministers also called on the Palestinian ministry of tourism to devise a plan to defend Arab heritage in Palestine, noting that Israel promotes Arab cultural attractions as part of "Israeli" heritage.
On the sidelines of the meeting, the Arab Producers Union for Television Productions and the Arabian Media Network said they had recently launched an Arab Tourism Campaign to promote tourism in the region through the media.
The campaign entails producing TV programmes in several languages, including Arabic, English, French, Turkish and Italian, as well as partnering with popular magazines to promote tourism in the region.
© Jordan Times 2011
