Country’s Third Tourist Festival proved success [Archives:2006/969/Local News]

By: Saleh Al-Batati
HADRAMOUT, Aug. 1 ) The Country's Third Tourist Festival, which took place July 14-29, proved that Yemen enjoys tourist attractions that help add cash to the state's revenues.

This year's season saw a great influx of Arab tourists, most of whom came from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman, in addition to foreigners and local visitors from throughout the country.

People were shocked to find several expatriates sleeping along the coastline of the Arab Sea during the festival's days, according to eyewitnesses.

” 58 hotels and 1612 rooms remained full of residents as of one month prior to the festival, and as the festival kicked off, visitors could not find accommodation,” Salim Bin Abdulaziz, General Manager of Hadramout's Tourism Office confirmed. “The city of Mukalla experienced a good economic movement in different areas as the daily incomes of restaurants, hotels and transportations means increased.”

Abdulaziz strongly criticized local traders who contributed millions of riyals to festivals outside the governorate and contributed nothing to the Country's Third Tourist Festival in their governorate.

With regard to difficulties and obstacles facing the festival, Abdulaziz pined, “early preparations and arrangements for the event helped us overcome most of the difficulties and made the festival a success. However, we faced difficulties associated with excluding Al-Mehdhar's Cornish Theater, one of the fascinating sites in Mukalla, from the festival's timetable due to a power cut.

Some of the activities were cancelled in solidarity with the Lebanese and Palestinians.
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