YEMEN LAUNCHES 2ND TOURIST CAMPAIGN IN EUROPE

SANA'A, Oct. 14 (Saba) - Yemen is to launch on October 17th the 2nd
largest tourist campaign in the European markets.

The Promotion Tourism Board said, in a press release, the campaign
would include the European cities Landon, Paris, Frankfort and
Milan. It aims to introduce the Yemeni tourist characteristics in
areas of culture, nature, history and civilization.

The campaign also aims to show the reality of security situation in
the country and the procedures Yemen has taken to rescue the tourist
movements through holding meetings with key tourist and travel,
public relation companies and media outlets.

Moreover, the campaign intends to mitigate the travel warnings for
Yemen, which have been issued base on false and inaccurate
information.

Some of the procedures Yemen has taken to rescue tourist movements
are establishing a specialized unit to protect tourists, approving
an automatic tourist vehicle tracking system, creating tourist
emergency unit and establishing a specialized court to speed up
settle terrorist-related issues in addition to launching extensive
operations hunting people suspected to have connections with such
issues.

Tourism Promotion Board will be in London in the coming weeks, on
the first leg of its European Roadshow, which will also eventually
travel to Italy, Germany and France.

According to Travel Daily News website, Yemen's National Dance
Academy will first be stopping at London's Paddington Station for
displays of traditional dancing throughout the day of Sunday 18th
October.

The Board will be hosting an engaging Evening of Discovery at the
London Millennium Mayfair Hotel on Monday 19th October. The National
Dance Academy will be making a second appearance alongside an
impressive exhibit by leading Yemeni photographers.

Apart from the entertainment, the event will also feature a Q&A
session where would-be visitors and interested persons can learn
about the various details of visiting Yemen. Also featured will be
an exhibition by acclaimed photographers from the country, and
prizes for various contests held throughout the evening.

The events will also feature offers and deals from a number of
British tours operators offering packages to Yemen. Last year,
around 9,000 British travelers visited Yemen. The Arab country
welcomed a total of over 400,000 visitors.

UK spokesman for Yemen Tourism Promotion Board, Christopher Imbsen,
has said UK visitors to Yemen would be fascinated by the range of
extraordinary experiences the country has to offer.

He adds that although Yemen is usually a choice for experienced
travelers, with many areas still being out of bounds for tourists,
regular travelers will find a lot to discover in this land of
mystery and adventure.

The event is open to journalists, travel and tourism professionals
and others with an interest in this Land of Mystery and Adventure.
The Board's UK team will be on hand to discuss study tour and press
trip options for tour operators, travel agents and journalists.

Three weeks later, Yemen's biggest ever delegation will be at
London's World Travel Market on 9th November for four days of events
and meetings with leading tour operators, journalists and investors.

The board is trying to do its best to change the wrong image of
Yemen in western media due to some security events and warnings
against unnecessary travel from Europe to the country.

Through such effective tourist participations, Yemen seeks to brief
foreigners, particularly Europeans, on developments in the country,
including the security side and what actions had been taken to
maintain security and stability which ensure the safety of everyone
in the country.


Yemen launched the first campaign in November 2007, which resulted
in increasing the coming tourists with an average reach 7 percent.
According to statistics, abut 404,497 tourists from different
nationalities have arrived in Yemen in 2008 compared to 378,361
people in 2007.

It is worth to mention that Yemen has received an award of the best
tourist destination in the world for adventure tourism and tourism
for low-income families in 2007 in the Hong Kong Travel Forum in
China held on June 14 - 17.

AF/AF