Profile

Welcome to GITOF : Gulf Investment & Tourism Forum
Under the theme : Round the year Tourism
Date & venue : Hilton convention center, Jeddah Hilton, 17 to 19 February 2008

Introduction:

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Making the Gulf region an all-year-round tourism destination is what the upcoming Gulf Investment & Tourism Forum is all about. Delegates and participants can exhibit their products and company materials in the Tourism & Investment Exhibition that is being held simultaneously on the fringe of the Forum.

Decision-makers and planners believe through local, regional and international investments, they can make the Gulf a world-leading tourism hub and a permanent source of attraction for visitors from all five continents of the globe.

With an endowed international surplus liquidity, the countries making up the Gulf region have shown impressive prosperity and believe the time has come to redistribute their wealth in the belief of making their major economic sectors bedrocks of economic stability.

Many of these sectors, tourism included, are seen as “high flyer” industries whose further development will ensure more sustaining growth for the well-being of the different societies in the Arab Gulf.

Through inviting local and international investors the coming Forum wants to give the Gulf tourism industry the opportunity to start producing the high yield to become a major contributor of the national income of the Gulf. Already in place are advanced social and economic infrastructures in different Gulf societies, offering modern and top-notch facilities for their citizens. The next step, as signified by the upcoming events, is to make the region a prime destination for spending tourists and for them to enjoy all-year-round state-of-the-art attractions and recreations.

Tourism officials from the public and private sectors are coming together in unison to showcase their upcoming projects that seek to make the tourism industry a permanent feature of the social, economic and even political lives of the societies of the Gulf.

They want to do it with openness and transparency, seeking the interplay of international investors with local businessmen and partners.


Participants:

• Ministers responsible for investment, tourism
• Representatives of Arab Chambers of Commerce
• Representatives of joint Arab-foreign chambers
• Government institutions and policy makers
• CEOs, CFOs, managers, senior executives, businessmen and decision-makers

Main Topics of the Forum:

• Political and Social Environments for World Tourism: Dimensions and Effects
• The Arab Gulf Region as a Tourism Destination: A Vision
• Marketing the Gulf as a Tourism Destination: Experiences and Results
• Quality in Tourism and Hospitality: Laws and their Applications
• Developing a Tourism Culture: Social Acceptance and Professional Practice
• Tourism Investments in the Arab Gulf States: Realities and Requirements

Forum’s objectives:

• Create a marketing and promotional strategy for tourist projects in the GCC countries to attract local and international investments through joint partnerships between the public and private sectors and set up projects which can be implemented quickly;
• Look at the different international experiences and practices and see how they can be applied on the ground in the Arab Gulf and through public-private sector cooperation;
• Encourage private sector participation in tourism and activate their financial flows to produce a vibrant, dynamic, professional industry that would be the envy of the world;
• Attract international investors to partner with local investors in different tourism projects for such a vision;
• Establish a defined and distinct mechanism to upgrade the current tourism infrastructure and facilities in the GCC counties including hotels, restaurants, communication, and transport facilities whether through land, air and sea ways;
• Create greater tourism packages, offer innovation, institute price reductions on hotel prices, slash air tickets and make them more flexible and able to be used to all the other Gulf destinations to make potential tourist say “I want to visit the Gulf’;
• Highlight the existing tourism facilities and their scope for development in the different GCC countries through zoning on their exceptional touristic experiences and product promotion;
• Identify potential financial sectors that want to have a direct stake in generating capital for specific and upcoming tourism projects and finance travel ventures;
• Organize tourism exhibitions in the different GCC countries through brochures, documentaries, and relief maps of dazzling sites and show their current and future potentials for local, regional and international investors;
• Show potential tourism investment incentives in Gulf tourism especially to the leaders of the private sectors and the international market who are always on the look out for high yield industries like tourism;
• Promote the Gulf countries as a unique destination with innovative and niche markets for international investors and global tourists;
• Talk about concept of developing “desert tourism”
• Encourage the concept of “green tourism”

Forum’s Languages:
Arabic and English are the working languages in the Gulf Investment & Tourism Forum. The working papers will be in Arabic and English and the workshops will have simultaneous interpretation both from and to Arabic and English.