Launch of the Accessible Tourism Forum in the Arab region

Launched last night, the Accessible Tourism Forum in the Arab region, held under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism and the League of Arab States, in coordination and cooperation with the Arab Tourism Organization, the Arab Academy for science, technology and maritime transport and the International Labor Organization of the ILO, at the invitation of Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Tourism, To participate in the Forum and participate effectively, given the Importance of tourism in the Red Sea, and achieved during the previous foreign exchange and a large number of tourists, and doubled the proportion of tourism activities in the province.

The conference aims to spread awareness of the concept of accessible tourism and its social and economic benefits, as well as its effects on the development of infrastructures and services in tourist facilities to make it available to all and to identify the main experiences in the application of accessible tourism, and how to benefit from it in the Arab region.

The forum comes in activation of the decisions of the Arab Ministerial Council for tourism, which called for the convening of a forum for subsidized tourism in the Arab region, to spread awareness and exchange of opinions and experiences on ways to remove barriers and obstacles that plague this segment of tourists, above all because it is characterized by the loyalty and frequency of its visit to its destination once the availability of services and facilities that meet the availability of their needs

The work of the Forum aims to strengthen the mechanisms of cooperation with international institutions such as the International Labor Organization (ILO), through the reformulation and development of relations with these institutions, which is included in the axis of institutional reform of the structural reform program for the development of the tourism sector.

The forum will discuss some important topics such as the concept of affordable tourism in terms of vision and sustainability, through the principles, tools and practices, applications and qualification of structures for the use of tourism at affordable prices, focusing on the 39; the importance of technology and innovation in hospitality service through the application of artificial intelligence and training frameworks to apply the concept of tourism at affordable prices and the development and development of economic tourism in the Arab world, and the role of Arab governments and the private sector in support and development.

During the opening session, a brief awareness-raising film was presented under the supervision of the European Commission to illustrate the idea of ​​affordable tourism, and another film of the Arab Tourism Organization on Tourism Indicators at affordable prices in the Arab world, where the film showed that around a billion people in the world have some form of disability, and this represents around 15% of the world's population, this important segment makes up 10% of international tourist traffic total and the volume of spending increases from 20% to 30% on the ordinary tourist.

Eric Ocalan, director of the technical team for decent work for North African countries and director of the International Labor Organization in Cairo, stressed that Arab governments are making great efforts to remove barriers for people with special needs, to enjoy the picturesque nature of their country, especially because the number of over one million people in the Arab world of 15% of the population The Arab world