Despite recent headlines, Yemen continues to attract tourists and its officials are taking additional precautions to ensure their guests have a safe trip. This is why 125 tourist vehicles have now been equipped with remote-control systems and high tech surveillance.
These vehicles, which have been distributed around the country, have been fitted with tracking systems which allow personnel from a remote location to monitor the cars’ movements and location. In the advent of a kidnapping, drivers of the vehicle can simply press a button which will notify the monitoring centre of the event, at which point they will take over control of the vehicle’s movements or disable it altogether. Specialised tourist police are then deployed to handle the situation. These security systems are also a handy deterrent against vehicle theft.
Kidnappings of foreigners in Yemen have been in the news recently. Even if they tend to be resolved quickly and peacefully, Yemen ’s government is naturally eager to see kidnappings end completely and the authorities have therefore been increasing security and surveillance with this aim. On top of the specialised vehicles and tourist police, they have increased patrols and created new tourist rest houses for visitors in more remote areas of the country.
Alan D’Arcy, tour leader for the British-Yemeni Society, commented: “I consider Yemen as perhaps one of the most interesting and unexplored countries left for world travellers today and it is excellent to see the government continuing to make visitor safety a top priority. The security enhanced vehicles and additional rest stops are great measures to bring peace of mind to travellers”.
Added Benjamin Carey, Yemen ’s representative in the UK : “With support from its many friends in Europe , the Yemeni Government has been investing heavily in visitor security, because it recognises that tourism can make an important social and economic contribution. British visitors will always enjoy traditional Yemeni hospitality renowned throughout the world; they will also now benefit from the comfort of these added security measures too.”
Last year the UK contributed 32% of Yemen ’s European visitors, confirming the spirit of British travellers and Yemen ’s adventurous appeal. |