Today, we often forget just how diverse the Mediterranean region was ethnically, linguistically, and culturally in ancient times. At the height of its territorial expansion during the New Kingdom, the Egyptian empire reached as far north was modern-day Turkey and as far south as modern-day Ethiopia, while the Phoenician empire stretched from what is now […]
Ras Al Khaimah aims to break out of the shadows of its more famous neighboring emirates
Superlative labels like the country’s tallest, the world’s longest, and the region’s first are often used to describe ambitious new projects in the two largest and most famous cities of the United Arab Emirates – Dubai and Abu Dhabi. But the country’s fourth largest emirate and fifth most populous now wants tourists to start thinking […]
Unravelling the Confusing Web of Saudi Arabia’s New Tourism Mega-Projects
As the world begins to move away from its reliance on fossil fuels, Saudi Arabia is attempting to rapidly and wisely diversify itself away from its traditional oil-based economy to one in which a newly established tourism industry can be a significant driver of investment, employment, and economic sustainability. Largely centred around the kingdom’s 1,760 […]
Egypt’s Tourism Arrivals Defy Expectations Despite Challenges and Setbacks throughout 2023
If there is one country in the world that embodies resilience in the face of adversity, it’s Egypt. Despite having been poised for a much-needed breakthrough in setting a tourist arrivals record multiple times over the past five years, one unexpected event after another has held the country back from achieving breakout growth in the […]
Qatar gets creative to prove critics wrong about its ability to host the World Cup
On December 02, 2010, FIFA announced that Qatar had been awarded the opportunity to host the 2022 World Cup, beating out the United States in the fourth and final round of voting by the organization’s 22-member executive committee. As the first World Cup event ever to be held in the Middle East, eyebrows began to […]
New winter wonderland planned within Saudi’s Neom mega-project on the Red Sea
In yet another seemingly reality-defying ambition, Saudi Arabia has announced plans for a sprawling ski resort and luxurious mountain village village within its futuristic, half-trillion-dollar Neom development along the Red Sea coast. This newly announced project, dubbed Trojena, aims to out-defy all of the region’s other double-take-inducing development concepts by creating a luxury winter wonderland […]
Egypt’s ambitious plans to build dozens of modern new cities from scratch
It’s not often that you hear of a country constructing brand new cities from the ground up, but Egypt plans to do precisely this in 45 different locations over the next several years. Such a project might sound overly ambitious, but the Egyptian government contends that such a bold initiative is necessary due to the […]
Diriyah: The Past and Future of Saudi Arabia
Anyone with even a basic knowledge of Middle Eastern history, geography, and culture knows of Saudi Arabia’s powerhouse capital city, Riyadh; its namesake royal family, the Al Sauds; and its predominant sect of Islam, Wahabism. However, not nearly as many have heard of the place that connects all three of these in a very historically […]
Dubai tourism arrivals are bouncing back big in 2021 following pandemic-defying numbers in 2020
The tiny Gulf emirate that packs a big punch continues to defy expectations as it reported welcoming 1.67 million international visitors in the first third of 2021, according to the Dubai Tourism Annual Visitor Report 2020. While Indians made up nearly 30% of those arrival numbers, visitors from Russia and Eastern Europe made up just […]
Egypt tourism showing initial signs of recovery after 73% drop in 2020 due to Covid
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has reported that the country welcomed 500,000 tourists during the first quarter of 2021 despite the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic. Egypt has strict testing requirements in place for international arrivals and has largely been spared the severe impacts of the pandemic that other countries have suffered. The heavily […]
