Arab investments in tourism reached $85bn

Sudanese Minister of Tourism Mohammad Al-Had said Wednesday that the volume of investments in tourism in the Arab countries topped USD 85 billion in 2012. Addressing the council of Arab ministers of tourism here, Al-Had highlighted the need to complete the Arab strategy for tourism and adopting a security strategy for the tourist sector. Al-Had added that holding such gatherings contributed to enhancing future plans in the Arab world, especially after recent events in some Arab countries, which affected the tourism sector, calling at the same time for enhanced efforts to promote this sector. For her part, Bahraini Minister of Culture Sheikha Mai Al-Khalifa said that hotel guests in the Kingdom of Bahrain exceeded the one million mark in 2012, an increase of 20 percent from the previous year. She added that electing the city of Manama, as the capital of Arab tourism in current year created an incentive for the development and enhancement of projects and events in the city.