Just When We Thought it was all Over HAS KIDNAPPING TURNED TO BE A DESTINY FOR YEMEN? [Archives:2000/04/Front Page]

Just as tourism started picking up after continuous deterioration in the tourism sector in 1999, we again were faced last week with yet an interesting kidnapping incident of the French couple, Nisa Barakat and Frank Bernard who were supposed to spend a honeymoon in Yemen.
“We had 30 visitors coming in a visit that took us 3 months to organize, however just as they heard the latest kidnapping of the French couple, the number was reduced to 13” Shankar of Taj Sheba told Yemen Times. This is an issue that has become a major headache for the whole tourism sector. “We are aware that the government is trying to do its best, but its best still seems to have not been enough. New and stiff measures should be taken” said a tourism agency owner. 
Despite the fact that the tourist were released in one day without being harmed, still the phenomenon of kidnapping goes on and continuous.
One cannot hold himself from asking, “has kidnapping become an inevitable destiny for Yemen, specifically at a time of economic downturn?”
Let’s keep our fingers crossed and wish there would not be a kidnapping incident soon. Overall, if the government doesn’t push for more, tourism is doomed.

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