OIC Secretary General speaks at the 1st Islamic tourism forum

Date: 31/10/2007

The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on 30 October 2007 delivered an address at the inauguration of the First Islamic Tourism Forum held in Jeddah. The occasion was held under the chairmanship of HRH Prince Nayef Ibn Abdulaziz, Minister of Interior and Chairman of the Supreme Tourism Board in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and in the presence of HRH Prince Sultan Ibn Salman Ibn Abdulaziz, Secretary General of the Supreme Tourism Board of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and of Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, Chairman of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In his speech, the Secretary General stated that the Ten-year Programme of Action adopted by the 3rd Extraordinary Islamic Summit held in Makkah Al Mukarramah in December 2005 devoted special attention to the tourism sector which is not only one of the important pillars of the economies of Member States, being a foreign exchange earner, but it also provides employment opportunities, develops the private sector, and is intrinsically linked to other sectors of the economy such as transportation, communication and handicraft. The Secretary General went on to say that tourism today has proved to be a sector of incredible growth. He demonstrated this with statistics from the World Tourism Organisation that the number of tourists in the world has risen from 25.3 million in 1950 to 806.8 million in 2005, an average annual growth of 6.8%. He also said that the incomes from these tourists have witnessed a growth of 11% per annum over the same period from $2.1 billion in 1950 to $682.1 billion in 2005. The highest growth rate was recorded in Africa (more than 10%), followed by the Asia pacific region, then the Middle East with 7% in 2005. With regard to intra Islamic tourism, he said that the estimates show that close to 18 million tourists are involved, representing 45% of total tourist arrivals. According to him, the Member States that have benefited most in terms of income from international tourism are Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Indonesia, Morocco, Tunisia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. Between them, these OIC Member States have realised $64 billion dollars in 2004, which represents 88.1% of the total tourism income of OIC Member States. Prof. Ihsanoglu explained the close connection between the notion and reality of culture and tourism. He also said that cultural tourism has acquired tremendous importance since it is a principal means of showing the history and culture of peoples and communities. Tourism is also an effective tool of boosting the true image and objectives of civilisations and cultures since it shows the past and present through the display of their products and achievements, and, through the same way, strengthens world peace by bringing about rapprochement and cultural understanding among peoples. The Secretary General pointed out that the 2nd Meeting of OIC experts on development of tourism held in Istanbul, Turkey from 9 to 11 May 2007, adopted the strategic plan for developing tourism in the Member States. He expressed the hope that the implementation of this strategic plan in the Member States will lead to positive results in the sector. In conclusion, the Secretary General gave the assurance that the General Secretariat, together with its institutions and bodies will continue to support actively the process of implementing the Ten-year Programme of Action and the OIC plan for promoting commercial and economic cooperation among OIC Member States, of which this meeting represents an important part. He called on the participants at the meeting to come forward with valuable proposals to the forum.

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