Muslim countries to establish tourism company 

Jeddah, 2007 Nov 2, IQNA/IINA

Wrapping up of the two-day activities in Jeddah, the First Tourism Forum of Muslim Countries decided to establish the Islamic Tourism Company for promoting tourism in member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

The forum titled "Towards Tourist Integration among Islamic Countries,'' was organized by the Saudi Supreme Commission for Tourism, in cooperation with the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) and the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

The founding members of the new company include tourism companies from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, Sudan, Pakistan and Azerbaijan with an initial capital of US$100 million and will be open to further investments by other participants. The ICCI will follow up the establishment of the company.

The two-day forum began Tuesday with sessions on tourism in Islamic countries and the challenges and barriers they face, including infrastructure, tourism packages, marketing and visa regulations.

The opening session was held under the auspices of Interior Minister Prince Naif, who is the chairman of board of directors of the Supreme Commission for Tourism (SCT), which organized the forum with the Council of Saudi Chambers and ICCI.

The forum focused Wednesday on promotional programs of inter-tourism between Islamic countries and some of the successful experiences in tourism activation and promotion with presentations from Iran, Tunisia and Turkey.

The final session was on tourism in Saudi Arabia. A discussion on complications of getting visas to enter Saudi Arabia, especially for women was also held.

The Supreme Commission for Tourism presented a working paper on the role of tourism in development of economic cooperation between Muslim countries.

Also, the Ministry of Haj presented a working paper on coordination between the activities of Haj and Umrah in Saudi Arabia.