Sharjah discusses economic impact of COVID-19 on Arab world tourism

Business Bureau, Gulf Today

The meeting touched on the size of Covid-19 impact on the travel and tourism sector and the exhibitions sector in the Arab countries and its consequences in different areas, employment, and related industries.

Sharjah: Saif Mohammed Al-Midfa, the CEO of Expo Centre Sharjah, underlined that the proactive and early recovery efforts made by the UAE’s wise leadership to confront the repercussions of Covid-19 have been an essential factor in the comeback of the tourism, exhibitions, and conferences sector and the acceleration of its recovery.  Al-Midfa made the statement during his participation, representing the Expo Centre, in a joint webinar held recently in Madrid, Spain, by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Casa Árabe under the theme “the Economic impact of COVID-19 on the tourism sector in the Arab world”.

Present at the meeting were Basmah Al-Mayman, Regional Director the Middle East, UNWTO, Raki Phillips, Chief Executive Officer, Ras al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, UAE, Pedro Martinez Avial, Director General, Casa Árabe, Khalid Al Zadjali, Director, Oman Convention Bureau, Oman, and Taiseer Al Mallah, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Saudi Convention and Exhibitions General Authority, KSA.

The meeting touched on the size of Covid-19 impact on the travel and tourism sector and the exhibitions sector in the Arab countries and its consequences in different areas, employment, and related industries.

During the meeting, Al-Midfa highlighted the efforts exerted by the UAE Government to counter Covid-19 repercussions and the most important decisions to help revitalise the tourism sector by leveraging its components in pushing up and accelerating the economic recovery.

“Knowing its importance in restoring the economic flows and tourist activities in the country, the UAE has been keen to resume the activities and events of the exhibitions and business sector since last September,” Al-Midfa noted.

“At Expo Centre, we organised and hosted a number of trade fairs that met with great satisfaction from the visitors and exhibitors with the stringent precautionary and preventive measures to maintain the health and safety of everyone,”

Al-Midfa hinted that the Centre will be organising around 5 local exhibitions this year, in addition to launching new specialised shows that are expected to attract a large number of exhibiting companies.

Concluding his remarks, the CEO of Expo Centre threw light on the significant role of the travel and tourism sector in achieving sustainable development, where this sector amounts to 10.3 per cent of the total GDP, stressing that tourism, according to 2019’s statistics, has contributed to providing 330 million direct and new employment opportunities and forming 28 per cent of global services exports.

For her part, Basmah Al-Mayman said: “Since the outbreak of Covid-19, the UNWTO has been taking measures to assist its members to respond effectively to its impact on their tourism sectors through initiatives such as the formation of a global crisis committee and the formulation of recommendations to mitigate the impacts on travel and tourism.