Mediterranean Tourism Exhibition (MTE) Tourism unites Turkey with its neighbours
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Istanbul-Motaz Othman
It is the right of each country that is interested in tourism to hold tourism exhibitions on its land to promote its tourist sites to foreign visitors and citizens. The aim is to promote internal tourism or to encourage tour organizers from abroad to bring in more tourists. This is usually done through one main tourist fair, as in the case of Spain, Italy and other places, as well as a number of subsidiary exhibitions.
But Turkey did something different. The First International Tourism Exhibition was organized seven years ago with the help of two companies, one Turkish, the other. English. But the two companies ended their cooperation after the exhibition and carried on with separate exhibitions. The first exhibition was supported by the Association of Tourism and Travel (TURSAB), the second by the Turkish Association of Hotels (TUROB).
This year, the two exhibitions were organized at the end of February. The Mediterranean Tourism Exhibition (MTE) was held in mid-February with the participation of a number of neighbouring countries, such as Greece, Syria, Lebanon, Hungary as well as the Ukraine, Tunisia and others.
The Turkish Minister of Tourism and Culture, Mr.Erkan Mumcu, opened the exhibition in the presence of a number of Turkish tourism personalities , including Mr. Mr Basaran Ulosoy, head of the Association of Tourism and Travel Agents. I had a meeting with the Minister who welcomed the issues of Islamic Tourism I handed him, expressed his admiration and promised to continue the co-operation with us.
I also visited a number of the stands, among them the Lebanese stand, with representatives from the Ministry of Culture, Middle East Airlines and the man of Lebanese tourism, Mr. Rafiq Redha, the General Manager of Ridha Travel, one of the biggest travel companies in Lebanon.
I asked Mr. Redha about tourism in Lebanon. He pointed out that Lebanon has a diversity of tourism activities: a unique location on the Mediterranean, a the mild climate, beaches and green mountains, shopping opportunities, cultural resources and Islamic and Christian heritage. All these elements give Lebanon a unique flavour to distinguish it from other countries in the region. These elements also encouraged regional tourism to a great extent. The hotel business in Lebanon is now is up to 75% of its capacity.
We asked Mr. Redha about the packages he is selling to Europe and whether they are just for Lebanon or other countries in the region. He said that many tourists prefer to visit Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Petra in Jordan, Palmyra in Syria and Balbeck in Lebanon are all worth visiting. Mr. Redha also referred to the cooperation between the public and the private sectors in Lebanon, which are working in harmony in the tourism sector.
We also visited other stands and interest was expressed in Islamic Tourism and its website. In the next issue we will publish our report of the other exhibition, the East Mediterranean Int’l Tourism & Travel Exhibition (EMITT).
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