Three cheers for Islamic Tourism Magazine
With the publication of this issue ITM celebrates its third year of publication. The magazine was established in difficult times. Its first issue came out just after the 9/11 atrocities in New York, amid a charged atmosphere against any "Islamic" predicate. But this tense reaction did not deter the publisher from going ahead with the project thinking that the poisoned air was just a summer cloud that would soon drift away leaving clear skies for understanding between nations and dialogue between civilizations. The project then sailed in uncharted waters but soon gained confidence and steered a steady course. The magazine went from a quarterly to bimonthly publication, adding more bilingual editions, such as the Arabic/ French one. After three years, the magazine is proud to have put the name of "Islamic Tourism" in a prominent place on the map of international tourism. One takes delight and encouragement from the support of the many good people in the travel and tourism industry, as well as academics and ordinary readers. Over the months and years we received lots of letters of appreciation and recognition. Recently, Professor Guenter Meyer from Germany used the BRISMES conference in London to draw the attention of the participants to the contribution of Islamic Tourism Magazine to the debate about tourism in Islamic countries and the Middle East. Jeanne Gay from "Tourism Reviews & Resources" in Santa Rosa, California who has been in tourism since March 1952 and spent the past 25 years in the academic side of tourism, wrote to us recently saying: "(I) am delighted with your "Islamic Tourism" publication. It is wonderful-very welcome and much needed." She added: "with the advent of your "Islamic Tourism", we will have another great addition to learning about the Islamic world. I am planning on frequently mentioning your publication on my tourism website and on several academic tourism sites that are available to tourism educators only." Alison Gardner, Publisher/Editor of Travel with a Challenge web Magazine, from Victoria, Canada, wrote: "I have just been introduced to your magazine via the website. Since my own Travel with a Challenge web magazine is dedicated to showcasing ecological, educational, cultural and volunteer vacations worldwide, and Islamic Tourism Magazine is interested in civilization and heritage as well as tourism, it naturally caught my attention. I congratulate you on your publishing initiative." These remarks, and many others, are very dear to us and a great help on the road of serving Islamic countries and tourism world wide. We thank all those who wrote to us and we promise them that we will do our utmost to persevere and to continually improve the quality of the magazine and its website.
Dr. Abdul-Rahim Hassan Editor-in-Chief
|