Arab nations count on China to revive domestic tourism

After the reputation of Arab nations as travel destinations has been somewhat undermined by the terrorist attacks in the recent years, they are now trying to revive tourism as an important economic sector.

Countries in North Africa and Middle East have been managing to rebuild the image of tourism after the Arab Spring unrests, but this attempt was seriously deterred last year by a series of terrorist attacks which shook the confidence of foreign tourists on the tourism development of the area.

However, a new opportunity for the tourism in Middle East and North Africa has emerged. In 2015, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Egypt has risen considerably from 60,000 in 2014 to 135,000. The reason partly attributes to the direct flights between China and Egypt, but the growing interest of Chinese tourists in Egypt is also playing an important part. As the number of Chinese outbound travelers has been growing steadily, many of them are now interested to explore countries which are not so widely famous in China, but still have spectacular culture. For these tourists who wish to experience something exotic, Egypt would be an ideal destination.

For Egypt, the interest of Chinese tourists would have positive meaning for the country’s tourism. As tourism is one of the most important industries in Egypt, attracting more Chinese tourists would also mean better economic opportunities for country, which is a win-win situation for both China and Egypt.

Other countries in the Middle East and North Africa are also on the way of luring more tourists. Following President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to the Middle East, it can be foreseen that the relationship between China and the Middle East will likely be intensified in the future. For Chinese tourists, the Islamic culture in these countries present a different kind of cultural fascination than that of Europe and America. And the countries in the Middle East are currently still not popular travel destinations in China, which gives these countries potential to attract more Chinese tourists in the future.

Source: Al Arabiya

Photo: flickr