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Kuwait to double tourist arrivals to 1 million

Kuwaiti is aiming to double its tourist arrivals to one million by 2015 as it seeks to boost its tourism infrastructure to attract more leisure travelers, said the organisers of an upcoming travel expo in Dubai. [Source]

Ummm what tourists??

53 replies on “Kuwait to double tourist arrivals to 1 million”

ahhh the people that we bring on a tourist visa so they can find a job and then we make for them the business visa to end up in the streets waiting for some work .
nice

Are they dreaming???? You have to offer something to the tourist. What could they possibly offer the tourists. Recently, an Indian singer came to Kuwait to perform and on the way from the airport she was killed on the road. NO ONE will come here. The door swings out, not in. Maybe they mean Al-Qaida tourism. How can you attract tourism when the residents (Kuwaitis alike) can’t wait to get out of here. Now do you see how important a new airport is, half of them will come into KIA and want to reboard the plane. On a positive note, Kuwait could attract tourism if they develop their country and legalize liquor in hotels (conservatively) like Qatar and the UAE.

Because the high road fatalities will also scare the tourists away. She was a tourist. I was just speaking with a collegue at work this morning about the driving here and he was telling me that he will take a break from driving when he first arrives home because he is so emotionally drained from driving here. Why would I want to go on holiday to a destination and drive in a country with roads like this, with high fatality rates. I need to leave here to destress from the driving and alot of times I don’t drive at my destination, so I can relax from driving in Kuwait. That is part of why tourism can’t ever reach these numbers, amongst many other reasons. A few years ago, a cruise ship on a trip through the Gulf had to do an emergency stop in Kuwait on route to Iran with European tourists on it. The guy at the port asked the ship, can you take people out of Kuwait on tour, not can you bring people into Kuwait for tourism. The country is not set up for any kind of tourism – this is just another pipe dream! Do you really think that tourists are going to nurse a juice box staring up at the run-down Kuwait Towers? Where are the 5-star hotels, there are no 5-star hotels in Kuwait. When Sheikh Mohammed started his development plan of Dubai, he had a 5 point plan. 1. He built a new airport. 2. He upgraded the national carrier ‘Emirates Airlines’. 3. He built The Burj Al Arab Hotel and the Jumeriah Beach Hotel simultaneously. 4. He started the DSF. 5. He marketed Dubai in Europe with reasonable travel packages. And the tourists boarded those planes, regardless of the high humidity and boosted the UAE economy immensely. Kuwait needs a huge boost to their economy and they need tourism, but they need a 5-point plan.

Very true. I am an Indian, born and raised in Kuwait. Since then I have lived in the States. People here who have visited Kuwait(usually soldiers) tell me how scary the driving is in Kuwait. Seems like that is the only thing they remember about Kuwait, even though I am personally proud of the city. And yes, MY city. Not Kuwaiti by nationality, but Kuwaiti by heart.

give Tourist visa’s to the relative’s & friends of expats working here and automatically you can achieve that goal…

but the ministry tries to avoid by asking for different documents such as ATTESTED birth certificates for person who is applying and person who is coming, when everything is already mentioned in Passports

good point.. i wanted to get my folks for a few day but the paper work required was terrible.. certificated, endorsement, approval etc.. i just accepted the fact i ann’t gonna get to see my folks here.. will wait out till the holidays to meet them.

Dunno if i agree with this. My folks have wanted to come visit (they can get visas on arrival) but I tell them “nope, meet me in dubai”.

Dont think giving tourist visas “automatically” to friends and family of expats would increase tourism here.

Unfortunately citizens of 33 or 34 countries get their visa at Kuwait airport yet Kuwaitis struggle to get a visa to most of the countries on that list. KD233 for a 5 year British visa. How much do they pay at the airport? KD3?

Supply and demand – Kuwait needs to make it easy for these US/EU citizens to come to Kuwait, Kuwaitis going to the UK is the converse

exactly! I was wondering the same thing, who has the financial troubles and need the money more? Basically Europe has financial problems. Unemployment in some countries is close to 20%. GCC money goes to bail out EU funds. GCC citizens have a hard time to get a visa for tourism to spend in those countries. EU memebrs get visa easily for GCC probably transfer to work visa. Something doesn’t sound right does it?

Laish 7a6een 3al kuwait?
If you dont like it leave ya3ni
As a kuwaiti I would never leave kuwait
Feeha kil shay:
Feeha soog
o ma6a3im
o ba7ar
o shaleh
o ahal
o barr

Increasing tourism is a slippery slope which is dependent on the world economy. Also geographically Kuwait is not a great social hub for travelers since Dubai won that place and whatever nature could have attracted tourists was destroyed by the gulf war. There are other reasons to visit a country, but other than business and accepting invitations or visiting a ‘democratic’ Arab country, there is a whole world to visit and their neighbors are also better as a social hub.

Kuwait should attract intellectuals to their country and focus on developing on democratic values of freedom of expression ( to a certain degree for intellectuals), rule of law, transparency which would in turn attract investment from ethical groups to promote democratic values through Kuwait, which would also guarantee Kuwait sovereignty by following the UN more closely and becoming a role model to other Arab countries on humanitarian values.

That also requires a culture change from the kuwaitis since part of their culture is not humanitarian. I am not talking about the treatment of women. More about their choice of labor and what they pay them.

Agreed that Kuwait could reform itself into a model Arab country. It’s a small, rich country with more than enough resources to transform itself rapidly if it really wants to.

Kuwait could increase their tourism by:

1) Building tourist attractions such as a dedicated Gulf War museum, official desert safaris, improve the beaches and especially improve security on them

2) Really leverage Kuwait’s beautiful coastline by developing better beaches, improving security for women and families, cracking down on jet ski’s being used within 100 meters of shore other than designated areas

3) Develop Kuwait’s islands etc etc

4) Reforming the police to make them unbiased, fluent in English and more expat/tourist friendly because (Yes, I know this would probably never happen). People are discouraged from visiting a country where the local security makes you feel unwelcome. Word of mouth marketing goes a long way!
It’s astonishing that an Ice Skating rink is shown as a primary attraction on Kuwait Touristic Enterprises website. Shopping malls around the world do not even put an ice skating rink on their main page let alone a country!

Oh and legalizing alcohol at 5 star hotels and islands would’nt hurt!

For a start, they could at least grant visas on arrival to legal aliens resident in the AGCC states no matter what their nationality and take it from there….

My great uncle lives in Kuwait. He’s been there since the early 60s. He has a Jordanian passport. He can come to Abu Dhabi and get a 2-week tourist visa because he’s a GCC resident.

My mother lives in Abu Dhabi. She also has a Jordanian passport and is a resident of the UAE. She lived in Kuwait before moving.She can only go to Kuwait if my uncle pulls a million strings and wastas.

My uncle comes to the UAE twice a year. My mother has been to Kuwait exactly twice since she left it in 1983.

And that is why Kuwait will never get 1 million tourists.

Why do people focus so much on HERE’S WHAT KUWAIT HAS TO DO TO GET TOURISTS LEGALIZE ALCOHOL SMOKE WEED EVERY DAY

Not everyone needs tourism. Frankly I don’t want tourists in Kuwait. When I go to Dubai I’m disgusted at how the Emirati’s own culture has been wiped out to become a tourist hub, the city belongs to foreigners. Nobody wants that to happen here.

Actually, some cruise liners do stop in Kuwait for a day only.

The Concordia no longer comes to Kuwait.

I have met some ppl who are visiting Bahrain and the UAE and decide to come to Kuwait to check it out. They love it, its different. You don’t need alcohol to have a tourism industry. If no alcohol, then you need a cultural aspect that attracts ppl to this place. Ninjas and mullas don’t exactly attract anyone except themselves.

Interesting to read all the comments about how to get more tourists and the funnier ones on the lines of “We don’t need tourists”.

Let’s just pause and look at the source of this statement…. “Organisers of an upcoming travel expo”….Says a lot there…. but what is more telling is where this upcoming travel expo is going to be held……………… any guesses? Don’t cheat and read Mark’s link…… Yep…. its Doo-bai…. So let’s stop creating this storm in a tea cup and drink the damn tea… Our Govt is really not bothered about tourists and that is the bottom line.

It would seem Kuwait is the most undersold country in the GCC for tourism. I’d be prepared to wager perhaps, even the least tourist friendly of nations in the Persian Gulf. Even Saudi, thanks to the annual Haj receives many times more tourists (be they pilgrims) than does Kuwait. Unless Kuwait sheds off its smug skin and comes out the closet(figuratively that is), tourist numbers will always fall short of the asking rate.
Part of the problem also lies with history. Can’t blame the Kuwaitis for nurturing a latent sense of xenophobia not after what the Palestinians did to them during the Iraqi invasion. Habits die hard – don’t expect Kuwait to suddenly cast away its xenophobic cloak and turn into a full frontal Dubai or Bahrain overnight. In many ways the growth we seen happening in Kuwait is organic, and it is to be hoped that some of this rubs off on the nascent tourism trade in K-town.

and once again mark doesn’t post my comments because apparently it ok to post ignorant comments like “aaa” but we cant say anything to back to them..

First of all, I am a kuwaiti mysellf,
By scanning most of the comments i can tell no one knows kuwait as good as i thought, an answer to a few who claim that kuwait would be better if alcohol was legal, this is a certain rule in kuwait that no alcohol is allowed to be sold, i can’t deny dubai, qatar and bahrain are major “Tourist Destinations” in the GCC which we kuwaitis pride that to our beloved neighbouring countries.
But alcohol doesn’t attract tourists! i mean i could rent a boat and cruise far away from kuwaiti coastline just to enjoy the illegal nightlife that i prefer with my beer buddies and when i wake up tomorrow morning i would be totally hunged over and can’t even remember that i had fun! i mean fun events in tourist destinations are best kept later as a “memory” not being forgotten!

Secondly, i don’t mean to be biased but kuwait is very beautiful but not many people can see it properly, i understand some kuwaitis are racist to a few expats, we kuwaitis ourselves pity them. I know no one brought up this topic but i’m trying to cover most of the points that our beloved expats question themselves.
Kuwait has mega-tourist projects under way just like all other GCC nations and it is moving at a good pace, don’t tell me that nothing is going on in kuwait, most people say “nothing” is coz of the weather (very hot and dry) that makes you stay at home and miss out a lot of stuff you could rather be doing.
Trust me i know about this a lot coz i got a lots of mixed south/south-east asian and arabian friends whom always complain to me with the same thing over and over again.

Thirdly, about the driving kuwait and bahrain have the least fitalty rates in the GCC, from where did you get that info that kuwait driving is very dangerous? yes i never said it isn’t but unfortunately it’s the same in all GCC countries.

Last but not least, the indian singer, it was her day she was meant to pass away are you able to change that? and the word al qaida is very offensive in kuwait coz we have no prior connections watsoever to al qaida at all, i’m guessing you’ve never been to kuwait to see it for yourself. Don’t get brain washed about these things my dear brothers/sisters we GCC countries have nothing to do with such a thing.

I hope to hear more from you 🙂

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