Worldwide, tourist arrivals declined by 72.8 percent in 2020 as compared to 2019, which resulted in an estimated loss of US$1.3 trillion in tourism revenuesJakarta (ANTARA) - The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha has pressed for more investment to be funneled into halal tourism.
The ministerial meeting of the 11th Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM) was inaugurated in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday, 28th June, 2022.
The opening session was attended by their Excellencies Ministers of tourism, heads of delegations of member states, and OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha.
In his speech at the opening session, Taha stressed that the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which eroded confidence in international travel, and the strict containment measures put in place had resulted in significant losses in terms of both tourist arrivals and tourism receipts.
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“Worldwide, tourist arrivals declined by 72.8 percent in 2020 as compared to 2019, which resulted in an estimated loss of US$1.3 trillion in tourism revenues,” OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha noted in a statement, Jakarta, Wednesday.
He emphasized that the emerging market of halal tourism has the potential to give OIC member states a competitive edge in this sub-sector and called on both public and private players in the tourism industry to invest more in halal tourism.
Taha underlined that tourism continued to hold greater potentials for promoting Small and Medium Enterprises and for generating employment for a significant number of OIC populations, including the vulnerable segments and the youth.
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In this context, he called for developing efficient public mechanisms, financial resources, and crisis-response preparedness mechanisms aimed at helping OIC member countries to successfully respond and recover from the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic crisis that has hit tourism stakeholders since 2020.
Taha also called on member states and relevant OIC institutions to create new programs in the OIC Cities of Tourism in order to attract tourists and concurrently promote new OIC tourism destinations.
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Reporter: Azis Kurmala
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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