The Hero of the global travel and tourism industry tonight at the opening of ITB Berlin was not the UN Tourism Secretary General, it was also not WTTC CEO Julia Simpson, nor was it the managing manager for the City of Berlin Kai Wegner, nor the Hon Dieter Janecek or the newly appointed Messe Berlin CEO Dr Mario Tobias.
The clear Hero was His Excellency Salim bin Mohammed Al Mahruqi, Minister of Heritage and Tourism of the Sultanate of Oman.
The reason was not only the spectacular event Oman brought to Berlin to amaze guests attending the beauty of Oman, and the country’s entire royal symphony to the German capital.
The reason was for the Omani minister to call for the travel and tourism industry to recognize the humanitarian suffering in Gaza and call for a stop to the onslaught. He called for a united front in tourism to do its part so the humanitarian suffering of the people of Gaza in this occupied territory can come to an end.
He warned that not addressing this will be in the memory for generations to come.
The minister went on to explain the importance of tourism for his country. He explained the good nature of the Omani people and provided a history lesson saying the first travelers in the world came from Oman.
Before the Omani minister addressed the audience every speaker acknowledged tourism as an industry of people-to-people engagement, but no one called the elephant in the room by name, except for the Omani minister.
His reference to Gaza triggered the Messe Berlin CEO to get back on the microphone and remind the audience of the October 7 terror attack on Israel and the suffering it caused. He also acknowledged the suffering without naming who was suffering. He may have said this to conform with German free speech law mandating this comparison.
He also added: Our mission in tourism is to bring people together.
Before the Oman minister gave his keynote address at the end of the performance, the Berlin mayor and the CEO of Messe Berlin welcomed delegates to the city of Berlin, a city that is known for tolerance, freedom, and openness.
Julia Simpson, CEO of WTTC referred to various research reports done by her organization predicting that 1 out of 9 jobs will be tourism-related soon, counting for 11% of the global GDP. She said WTTC is working on establishing a global standard to measure environmental impact.
UN Tourism Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili praised Germany for being the only country that had reached environmental and sustainable protection targets.
Julia and Zurab said they just returned from Saudi Arabia and both congratulated the Saudi kingdom and its tourism minister for achieving the 100 million tourist arrival mark ahead of their planning before they praised the stunning beauty of Oman and its tourism potential.
Juergen Steinmetz, chairman of the World Tourism Network had a chance at the authentic Oman dinner bufett to congratulate His Excellency, Minister Salim bin Mohammed Al Mahruqi for his courage to name the Gaza onslaught in his speech.
Steinmetz told the minister so far only WTN, PATA, and IIPT had spoken out naming Gaza. His Excellency agreed the travel and tourism world must come together on this issue of humanity.
Steinmetz told the minister he visited Oman together with Louis D’Amore the founder of the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism in 2008 to discuss Peace through Tourism with former Omani tourism officials.
(eTN): ITB Berlin Opened Omani Style Calling for Tourism to Speak Out on Gaza | re-post license |Â post content
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