By IANS
Dubai : Travel and tourism industry worldwide will maintain its growth rates in the current year despite the global credit crunch, according to business leaders, WAM news agency reported Tuesday.
“Tourism growth has been particularly rapid in developing countries in 2007 with the fastest average growth in tourism arrivals in the Middle East region at 12.9 percent,” Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) said Monday here during a press briefing.
Baumgarten was commenting on a report presented by the WTTC and Oxford Economics (OE) which noted that travel and tourism industry has entered 2008 on the back of solid performance in 2007.
Dubai will host a conference of the WTTC in April.
Khalid Bin Sulayem, director general of Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), said: “On global scale, international tourism arrivals (in Dubai) increased this year by nearly 6 percent, totalling to nearly 900 million tourists.”
The report however warned that the deteriorating economic conditions, particularly in the housing and credit markets across the globe, are increasing concerns for the industry.
“However, the slowdown is likely to have a limited impact, due to the growth of emerging markets and the easing in monetary policy by central banks,” the study said.
It noted: “Higher energy prices are a two-pronged challenge, as they squeeze household budgets globally and raise the cost of a key input for the Travel and Tourism industry.”
Baumgarten said increasing oil revenues would offer producing countries wider opportunities to enhance their investments in tourism.
“Strong oil income will promote investment in diversification projects often focussing on tourism’s potentials,” the WTTC chief said.
Dubai Strategic Plan for the year 2015 has identified tourism as one of the catalysts for the emirate’s economic development.