Qatar Tourism Authority participated at the 16th session of the Arab Tourism Ministers Council (ATMC) in the Bahraini capital Manama.
DOHA: Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) recently participated in the 16th session of the Arab Tourism Ministers Council (ATMC) in Manama.
QTA participated in the 13th meeting of the ATMC’s Executive Bureau, which met on October 29. QTA Chairman Issa bin Mohammed Al Mohannadi led the official delegation.
“We are eager to activate Qatar’s role in common Arab action in the field of tourism. As more international tourists discover the region we will all see the benefits. This important collaborative work aligns with QTA’s efforts to boost MICE and leisure tourism as a sector of Qatar’s diversified economy,” said Al Mohannadi.
The meetings discussed a range of topics important to the Arab region’s growing tourism industry including the report of the Technical Secretariat on the implementation of youth tourism programme, “Know Your Country”, which encourages youth exchange among the Arab countries to support inter-Arab tourism and introduce youth to the tourist attractions in the Arab world. The Iraqi city of Erbil, capital of Arab Tourism 2014, was invited to host and organise the next tour under this programme.
The Technical Secretariat’s report also discussed the Economic and Social Council’s decision about the charter on preserving the architectural heritage of the Arab countries.
The delegates also discussed ways to activate the tourism cooperation framework between the Arab League and Latin American countries.
As part of the effort to promote and develop regional tourism, the ATMC proposed launching quality awards for tourist restaurants and tourism training and education institutes. The conferees decided to defer discussion of the tourist restaurants award to 2015. Countries were invited to present bids for the quality award for tourism training and education institutes.
The conference also discussed ways to boost tourism security, as well as the criteria for selecting the capital of Arab tourism.
The ministerial meeting adopted two important decisions. The first sets a mechanism for the implementation of the Arab tourism strategy and establishes a working group to revise the strategy’s executive programmes and draw a road map to translate these programmes into action. The second decision commissions a study on ways to develop ATMC work mechanisms.
The results of the study will be presented at the next Executive Bureau meeting before they are forwarded to the ministerial council in its 17th session.
Qatar is a member of the ATMC’s Executive Bureau alongwith Yemen, Sudan, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait.
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