www.khaleejtimes.com Western tourists and their precious euros and dollars are returning in droves to the impoverished Yemeni capital, strolling along the cobbled streets of the ancient souks and picturesque townhouses.
After suffering in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States, Yemen seems to be regaining its place as a main tourism destination in the Arabian peninsula.
“There are a lot of older people, but they do not fear for their security,” said 57-year-old Giorgio Brambilla, a member of a group of several dozens of Italian tourists from the city of Bergame.
The tourism sector in Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries, has reeled under the republic’s reputation as a haven for terrorism and kidnapping.
Tourism particularly nosedived in Yemen “because it is the country of origin of the family of (Osama) bin Laden,” the Saudi-born head of the Al Qaeda network that claimed the September 11 attacks, said Marco Livadiotti, who runs the country’s largest travel agency.
Yemen also paid its share in terror attacks, with the attacks on the USS Cole destroyer in the port of Aden in 2000 and the Limburg French oil tanker off the eastern coast in 2002.
The attacks brought an end to the once lucrative tourist cruises business.
The kidnappings of dozens of tourists in tribal areas in Yemen have also contributed to scaring off foreigners.
The number of tourists went down from 55,000 at the end of the 1980s to 5,000 in 2003, said Livadiotti.
But last year, the figure doubled to 10,000, he said.
Westerners “were expecting something (worse) to happen in Yemen ... but then they were tired of waiting, and as it is a magnificent country and nothing eventually happened, they came back,” he said.
Americans and Britons can still hardly be found in Yemen, but tourists from Germany, France, Italy and Japan are now flocking in to admire the country’s natural wonders.
In a constant search for alternative resources to dwindling oil reserves, the government is keen to attract foreign tourists in an attempt to lure much-needed hard currency into the country.
Deputy prime minister and planning minister Ahmed Mohammed Sufan said “we think that Yemen could cater for more than half a million European tourists with the current facilities, with just (some) improvements,” by 2008.
But Livadiotti does not agree, insisting that the country does not have enough hotels.
The capital, Sanaa, only has two five star hotels offering a total of less than 500 rooms, while the country lacks proper airport facilities.
However, Livadiotti does not seem to complain, as more tourists would threaten the country’s exceptional archaeological wealth “in the absence of a law to protect” such heritage which remains ”probably the richest in the region.”
Arik Khan, manager of the five-star Taj Sheba hotel, said Yemen attracted “a very selective clientele.”
“It is not like in Dubai, where people come for shopping malls and night clubs,” he said.
A real boom, however, relies on the security situation in Yemen, where tourists need special permission from the authorities to visit various regions.
“Rebuilding the image of the country is important. It’s a priority,” said Sufan, before proudly adding: “since 2001, no kidnapping case has been (recorded). Not one!”
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