Crisis opens new doors for tourism

Many tourists have had a tough decision to make recently.

Do they confirm their holiday destination, even if it is experiencing economic or political upheaval, or do they choose somewhere else?

With the after effects of the Arab Spring still reverberating throughout much of the Middle East, many travellers have opted for alternative destinations like Dubai.

Abdullah bin Suwaidan, the Deputy Director of Dubai’s Department of Tourism, told euronews: “Over the past 10 years Dubai was the choice for many travellers around the world, because of the branding of Dubai, a sustainable destination, safe and secure, so that’s the reason of Dubai. We have nine million visitors in 2011 that came to Dubai, that’s the 10 percent increase comparing to the last year. I think that we’re going in the right direction in promoting Dubai to be a destination where all kind of people come.”

Our correspondent, Giovanni Magi, explained: “With 4,500-billion euros of annual turnover and more than 250 million jobs worldwide, the global travel industry ranks even higher than the car industry. So operators take changes caused by any crisis very seriously.”

The economic chaos of 2008 and political turbulence in various countries have encouraged new destinations to emerge into the wider international market; and have pushed traditional tourist destinations to evolve and adapt to new challenges by diversifying in what they can offer visitors.

Arber Uka from Albania’s Ministry of Tourism said: “In recent years we in Albania have had a steady growth of tourist visits, especially tourists who are looking for an original experience, first of all. It is obvious that the countryside and the sea are attractions that always remain on top, but there are always tourists who like to discover new destinations, searching for new things that haven’t been seen before.”

The European director for Mexico’s tourist board, Javier Aranda Pedrero explained: “What Mexico has been doing since last year, based on instructions from President Felipe Calderon, is to integrate all our resources better. There’s a national tourism agreement that defines 100 points to develop the best tourist activity. The World Tourism Organisation currently ranks us tenth in terms of the number of international tourist visits. Our goal is to climb to number five in the world by 2018.”