A New Year of Good Hope

It is a New Year in the life of Islamic Tourism and the world. A year full of new hope and vision of the future, and we are determined to honour the good will that people have shown in us to encourage tourism in the Islamic countries and the world.
Representatives of Islamic Tourism have worked hard and with great efficiency to participate in many tourism events, such as exhibitions, meetings and field visits. The reader will discover, for example, that Islamic Tourism participated in the Mediterranean Travel Fair (MTF) in Cairo. The publisher represented the magazine at the fair and paid visits to Egyptian and other stands. He received many queries, suggestions and ideas from the many dignitaries and personalities in the world of tourism, many of whom visited the Islamic Tourism stand.
Our participation in the fair resulted in two important agreements, establishing two new branches for the magazine: an office is in Cairo - which will be under the supervision of Mr Munir El-Fishawy. It will cover Egypt, Sudan and Libya. The second agreement is with Mr Motaz Othman, who will cease issuing his own magazine in order to join ours. Mr Othman will cover Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine. The two offices have already begun their responsibilities. The reader will find a report by Mr El-Fishawy of his visit to Germany. There are also feature articles about Syria, Lebanon and Jordan to go hand-in-hand with the efforts of Mr Othman who has visited ministries of tourism in the three countries under his charge. Both representatives gained advertisements from the mentioned countries.
The reader will find in the articles on Syria, Lebanon and Jordan that they have all shared the same history since Roman times. The tourist who wishes to complete the historical picture of the region needs to visit these three countries in one tour. This fact should be obvious to tour organizers and should be taken seriously.
Islamic Tourism also attended the Congress on Islamic Arts and Crafts in Esfahan (Iran). In addition, the magazine participated in London’s World Travel Market (WTM). The reader will find full coverage of these events in the current issue. In addition, there is a variety of articles, including on Alexandria and a report on Islamic treasures in Holland which is a theme we wish to model as an example of many similar articles on the subject of
Islamic treasures in different parts of the world. All these articles and reports give the present issue a mark of distinction and richness that has not been apparent in the past. It also represents the coming together of new expertise and efforts of the team behind the magazine.
Finally, we are keen to attend other tourism exhibitions and conferences and are also developing our website on the Internet (www. Islamictourism.com), all with the aim of making this magazine the most important Arab and international feature in the field of tourism.
With God’s Help.

Dr. Abdul-Rahim Hassan
Editor-in-Chief