Tourism

FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi's PIF downsizes foreign investment, turns to AI, domestic priorities

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is looking to invest in tourism, real estate and sustainability as its Vision 2030 deadline draws closer.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath addresses the media in Colombo on Oct. 24, 2024.

Sri Lanka arrests 3 men in plot to attack Israeli-run Jewish center: What we know

Three Sri Lankan nationals were arrested on Thursday after Israel's National Security Council urged Israelis to leave certain areas of the country due to "credible terrorism threats."

Rosaleen Carroll

By Rosaleen Carroll

In Washington, DC, US, reporting on the Middle East

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 31: U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, in the Oval Office on January 31, 2022 in Washington, DC. The two leaders were expected to discuss a range of issues, including global energy security as concerns about Russian natural gas supplies continue. (Photo by Tom Brenner-Pool/New York Times/Getty Images)

Qatar to join US visa-free travel list in first for Arab country

Qatar is set to become the second Middle Eastern country, behind Israel, to join the US Visa Waiver Program.

Employees of Aramco oil company work in Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq oil processing plant on September 20, 2019.

Analysis

Can Saudi Arabia afford giga-projects with oil prices under $75 per barrel?

Riyadh could soon run a current account deficit as oil revenue declines amid huge spending commitments toward ambitious Vision 2030 projects. Saudi-led OPEC has also deferred an output increase plan to allow more time to reach desired oil prices.

Jennifer Gnana

Samuel Wendel

By Jennifer Gnana , Samuel Wendel

Latest News

Saudia inks deal for electric flying taxis from Germany amid airline order spree

Media image of a Lilium eVTOL jet, download July 18, 2024.

Qatar Airways sees annual profit climb by 39% to record $1.67B

Reporters gather near a Qatar Airways cargo airplane on the tarmac of Hamad International Airport, as the first commercial flight to Saudi Arabia in three and a half years following a Gulf diplomatic thaw prepares for take-off, Doha, Qatar, Jan. 11, 2021.

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Turkey: UK issues sex-crime warning for travelers, reports 42 cases in 2023

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

As Hajj kicks off, Saudi Arabia looks to expand tourism sector

FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images

Sebastian Castelier

By Sebastian Castelier

In Dubai, reporting on regional business

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - JULY 02: Tourists visit Istanbul's famous Hagia Sophia on July 02, 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey. Turkey's Council of State will begin a review today of the building's status and the possibility of changing it from a museum, back into a mosque upon the request of nationalist and religious groups. Throughout it's history the UNESCO World Heritage site has served as a Byzantine Cathedral, a mosque under Ottoman rule and now a museum, after a 1934 decision led by modern Turkey's founder Mustafa K

Britain extends lifeline to Turkish tourism by lifting quarantine rule

Turkey hopes visitors from the United Kingdom will help offset the deep losses its coronavirus-hit tourism industry is expected to suffer this summer season and is pushing the European Union to reconsider its "safe list" that excluded the Mediterranean destination.

Women wearing protective masks walk at the promenade of Dubai Marina on May 5, 2020, after authorities of the United Arab Emirates started to ease a national lockdown put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus. - In Dubai's ritzy Marina district, white yachts are tethered to docks, standing idle -- like many companies behind a luxury lifestyle industry battered by the coronavirus crisis. The boardwalks that snake around the precinct's artificial bays and canals, once packed with tourists, mostl

Dubai welcomes back tourists

The Emirati city wants visitors to come back as the country emerges from its coronavirus closures.

This picture taken on June 20, 2020 shows a view of an EgyptAir Airbus A320neo aircraft on the tarmac at Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, in the Red Sea resort city at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) (Photo by KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Did Egypt move too fast to receive tourists in light of COVID-19?

Egypt received tourists from Ukraine as the country resumed tourism and airports opened up amid strict precautionary and preventive measures.

Egypt resumes international flights, reopens pyramids for summer tourism

More than three months after Egypt closed its major tourist attractions, two flights from Ukraine arrive in Red Sea and South Sinai governorates.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis issue joint statements in Jerusalem, June 16, 2020. Debbie Hill/Pool via REUTERS - RC2BAH9GJTED

Israel, Greek prime ministers showcase bilateral alliance

The visit in Israel of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reflects a growing convergence of interests between the two countries.

An EgyptAir plane lands on the runway of the Capital International Airport, a new airport built for Egypt's new capital, known as the New Administrative Capital (NAC), east of Cairo, Egypt July 9, 2019. Picture taken July 9, 2019. REUTERS/Hayam Adel - RC15C51DE710

Egypt to gradually resume international flights

Foreign tourists will also be allowed to travel to three coastal provinces as airports reopen to international travel beginning July 1.

Egypt to allow foreign tourists at select resorts

Egypt will open resorts in the Sinai Peninsula and the Red Sea to foreign travelers in July in an effort to boost tourism during the coronavirus pandemic.

Sharm el-Sheikh prepares for antiquities museum opening

Egypt is getting ready to open the first antiquities museum in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh later this year, in the hope of boosting the tourism sector that has been badly affected by the coronavirus lockdown.

A closed souvenir shop in front of the treasury site in the ancient city of Petra is seen empty of tourists after the government closed all tourist facilities in the country amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Jordan June 3, 2020. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed - RC2V1H9EE04C

Jordan further eases restrictions after continued success against virus

Jordan has had relatively few confirmed COVID-19 cases.

A waiter wearing a protective face mask serves customers in a coffee shop, with the Acropolis hill in the background, as restaurants reopen following the easing of measures against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Athens, Greece May 25, 2020. REUTERS/Costas Baltas - RC2NVG9ZZ8UZ

Greece to allow tourists from Israel, Lebanon

The European country will open up for tourists from Israel, Lebanon and several other European countries in June.

Tourists wearing face masks sit and stand on Galata bridge in Istanbul, on March 13, 2020, amid the outbreak of COVID-19, the new coronavirus. - Turkey said on March 12 it would shut all schools for two weeks and bar spectators from football matches through April after recording its first case of the new coronavirus. The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has risen to 5,043, according to an AFP tally based on official sources at 1100 GMT on March 13. Since COVID-19 was first detected in December 2019,

Intel: Turkey's tourism sector sets hopes on June kick start

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's announcement that the government aims to relax COVID-19 restrictions and start returning to normal life at the end of Ramadan has raised the hopes of the country’s ailing tourism sector.

Virtual tours bring Egypt's museums, archaeological sites online

Cairo had hoped that 2020 would be a golden year for Egyptian tourism, but the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the industry.