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Tourism sucks in Kuwait

According to Arabian Business Kuwait ranked 101st place out of 140 when it came to travel and tourism, the lowest amongst the Gulf countries. No surprise there, not even sure how we didn’t even rank lower since its practically impossible to get a visa to Kuwait. Dubai obviously ranked the highest in the region coming in 28th place out of 140. [Link]

64 replies on “Tourism sucks in Kuwait”

Forget tourists dude, several people in the work-force here for years aren’t able to get their own families!

So yeah… “practically impossible to get a visa to Kuwait” is 100% true.

Good.

The less pressure there is on our infrastructure the better. Plus better build up and redevelop the area and ensure that laws are enforced or else Kuwait might find itself in terrible PR situation.

You mean Mubarak that you may be exposed, the problem with Kuwait is that the laws are not enforced and it has some good laws – quite troubling. However, Kuwait has nothing to offer tourists. Residents have to struggle everyday to get through the enormous traffic conjestion with no solutions in sight, but if you were with me in immigration the other day with all the down-trodden with visa’s in their hands, I couldn’t help to wonder where on earth these people are working, even the maids coming in were scary. So despite the fact that some people can’t get their families in a country that is about to eliminate government subsidies across the board and families stuggle to put a meal on the table without using a credit card, the visa traders seem to thrust more illegals on streets that overwhelm the system. Bravo to everyone who seems to think that they are doing their job.

Exposed? What do you…oh the PR thing I wrote? No, I’m sure most people are aware that Kuwait isn’t the best of places. What I meant that the state’s unwillingness to improve the nation might cost it international goodwill which is one central to Kuwait’s continued existence.

HAHAHAHAHA please. If by infrastructure you mean malls, burger joints and places for people to blow money yeah they are steady building that stuff. I have been here almost 4 years and there has been such little progress on anything infrastructure wise. Traffic, garbage, power outages and more have all increased! Yeah keep the tourism away which would actually spur the leaders to maybe fix these things when people constantly hear how dissatisfied with things while they were here. I have known several people who came to the country to visit and most said and I quote “Kuwait is a shit hole”. Mind you these are people who are shown all the best things to see and do while they are here. So thanks to those leaders who spend time coming up with ridiculous laws and ways to make people who have lived here all their lives but don’t have the Kuwaiti citizenship jump through hoops and pay out the ass to do anything and the morons who keep voting them in. Hahaha Saudi did better for tourism. That right there should defo be a good enough wake up call/yardstick! Keep towing that line bro!

No. Infrastructure as in roads, mass transportation, power and water sources, garbage collection and recycling, environmental protection, education, etc.

I doubt tourism will push the state to fix things on a… fundamental level, for lack of a better term, all that will be done is give the nation a veneer of…perfection. Is that the right term? I feel that tourism will just distract from the real issues and just exuberate the problems.

Saudi Arabia’s tourism is based around Mecca/Medina and a few archeological sites. Though I fail to see how that’s relavent to Kuwait…

Excuse them for their inappropriate language, and anyway actually if you didn’t know Kuwait is improving a lot! 1 example is how some lights in the streets and pavements are being run by solar energy. And that is only one example out of A LOT. And you probably don’t know where to look for the best places in Kuwait. So please be quiet and don’t comment if your information is wrong.

Excuse me if I was a bit rude, but none of that information was correct,

Thank you

Even if they open Kuwait as a tourism destination, there’s nothing to see here. What little there is can be covered in one day.

And Dubai has? I’ve been going back and forth to Dubai for 2 years now mainly for college.

Let me put it this way, it’s fun while it lasts, literally takes a day to go to the major tourist attraction, i was there for 3 months and I was going INSANE.

Dubai has nothing to offer besides overly crowded malls and poorly tasting shishas.

I pretty much said “I went to every place possible”.

Malls, trips, safari’s, coffee houses, museums and cultural places.

The safari’s are crap compared to what Sharm Al-Sheikh had to offer.

Museums and cultural places are the only good things I saw in Dubai, apart from the sky scrapers.

Did I mention their infrastructure sucks? Yes they reduce traffics but they also extend you driving time to 20 minutes minimum, you lose one turn? You’ll lose another 30 minutes.

Yeah it definitely does but I don’t think it’s a huge deal really. We’re not like Spain or Egypt where tourism is a huge part of our income and we never will be, spend the money on making life better for people that live here instead of temporary visitors.

OK and what about when the oil money runs out? Wouldn’t having more fun things to do and making the visa process easier for people including residents without the Kuwaiti citizenship be better? Do you really see things getting better for expats and workers here? Hell no they get worse and worse with each new idiotic decree.

“Fun things to do” is a bad way to sustain an economy. Obviously branch out from oil but Tourism isn’t the way to go.

And it’s pretty clear from the decrees they are intentionally making life harder for expats in the hopes that less will come.

Fun things to do can surely sustain economy ! Many people fly out of Kuwait since there is no life and suggests other not to return ! Which puts an adverse effect on local economy…

Kuwait has a better shot at being an international shipping/dock hub than a tourist attraction.

Our beaches are meh, our deserts are meh, we basically have no wildlife whatsoever for those people who seek fun adventures.

What we got is a key location and oil, i’d rather see the key location being utilized properly while we still can, that’s the only thing that can sustain us when Oil does run out.

Yup!!! Getting worse for Expats by possibly implimenting an income tax! Kuwait will implode when there is a mass exodus of Expats if the income tax thing takes effect!The laborers that go out everyday from 5am to 5pm cleaning streets and other shit are going to be replaced with Kuwaitis? yeah right!
Back on to the subject about Kuwait and tourism, in their dreams! They should be dead last with all the war ravaged African countries!

the visa process is only hard for the (zalamat) and other cheap labour who i think are the ones who are saying all the shitty stuff about Kuwait and its like that all around the world not just kuwait why would i give someone a visa who would become a burden to my country. we might not have good tourism but atleast Kuwait is one of the safest countries around the world and that is even without enforcing the laws that should be enforced.

I think Kuwait should try to focus on the Arabian Gulf families specially the Saudie families as a segment to target, who are basically the highest paying people in the world and they are just next door. Kuwait isn’t the Maldives, Kuwait isn’t Rome. Kuwait isn’t London, and Kuwait isn’t even Dubai and we don’t want to be Dubai. Lets start law enforcement in Kuwait and provide necessary thinngs to citizens such as infrastructure, housing, health, education, jobs, economic reforms and then think about tourism. One thing important is to try to keep Kuwaities spend more inside the country and less outside.

Yeah but all my Kuwaiti friends leave every single chance they get whether it be to Dubai, Bahrain, Europe or the States. By citizens do you mean Kuwaitis or residents to include expats and workers?

Your missing the whole point q80, how are you going to get residents or Saudis (??) to spend more in Kuwait when there is little reason to.

Tourism revenues flood tens of billions into an economy, which benefits all people.

Increased income = increased investment = more jobs = higher consumer spending = Increased income….it’s a cycle that you aren’t understanding.

Kuwait is now a one way economy, suck whatever you can from it – and spend most of that income of outside. The long term effects are devastating.

Tourism is never a stable income to rely on, let’s look at countries where it’s a huge chunk of their yearly income:

Spain
Egypt
Italy

Notice something? When the rest of the world goes broke it hits them even harder, and when political problems arise and tourism takes a hit it hurts much more than it would have otherwise.

There are much more stable methods to increase internal spending than tourism. Some places are blessed with ancient historical landmarks that people will fly around the world to see and it makes sense for them to make money off of it but why create something out of nothing?

The states makes less money from foreign tourism than it used to and it makes actual, useful things that the entire world uses though

Bahrain is going broke
Dubai tourism has fallen from their peak and they realize this and have been trying to branch out to be the regional hub for everything
Europe is not a country

My dear friend what you are saying in terms of economics is correct. But are we having a an existing failing tourism industry? Or is tourism the solution of all our economic problems?

If we create a clean living environment for living with parks, recreation areas, taking care of existing historical sights and museums +++ relishing the country with business opportunities for industries, technology that would create from Kuwait a cool place to visit, and that exactly what happened to countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

very well said, the other guy is a typical Kuwaiti who lives off government stipends and doesn’t know what increased income means.

Hello Mr. Fahad. So u studied increased income in 101 economics and u think u know it all? Ha?

I am talking about how to make Kuwait first a proper country to live in with all the needed infrastructure and recreation areas for citizens and EXPATS by changing the whole economic system from a rentier economy depending on one source of income “oil” to a diverse economy with industries and technology and by then we start thinking about tourism which will come in time along with developments .

On the other hand u r acting as a typical Kuwaiti who thinks that solving problems is with simple words. Tourism –> Increased Income —> Bla Bla Bla

There are many things to do in Kuwait unfortunately most of them are run down and no one takes care of them. The poor POW museum is a disgrace and what’s left of the heritage is deserted unlike other GCC countries that take care of the old buildings, have concerts and cultural programs for tourists. Everyone is consumed with making money for themselves not for the country.

True, crazyinkuwait, Kuwait does have some ruins on the island of Falaka which have never been developed by the government properly at the scale neighboring GCC governments have done for its citizens. Considering Kuwait is a country where the door always swings out, in other words, the tourism numbers and money leave the country, you would think that this government would have developed the airport and upgraded the national carrier. Kuwait Airways has reported that they will not be able to pay salaries next month in a country that is touting in the press that they have a 56.7bn budget surplus. I think Kuwait needs tourism, how are all those stores in the Avenues staying open? The shopping festival has always been a hokey pokey joke and the money always goes out of the country investment wise. Tourists will not come to a country without a good presentation and the airport is the gateway to your nation, just look at it – a disgrace!

The index is made up of 14 pillars in total. If you look at tourism elements, and environmental stuff, the picture is even gloomier.

The “Prioritization of Travel & Tourism” pillar is 139th, which has sub-elements, such as government prioritization of the tourism industry, and the effectiveness of the (otherwise non-existent) marketing efforts to attract tourists.

Other sub-elements in other pillars with a striking rank are the “quality of the natural environment” ranked 138th, CO2 emissions are 137th, so there are only 2 countries in the survey which are even more ugly then Kuwait, and the CO2 emissions are obvious when people are basically taking their car to go to the corner shop.

“Sustainability of travel industry development” is 139th, which clearly shows how unsustainable is this attitude, and “attitude of population toward foreign visitors” is 137th, so people are actually unwelcoming towards tourists.

All in all, Kuwait tourism sucks. A lot.

when I was in Muscat in December I was shocked by number of tourists from France, Italy, UK who were in queue at immigration desk in airport . Never, ever saw such a sight in Kuwait airport whole my life.

If someone thought there was enough money in it they would start tomorrow. Done right, there would be, like a guaranteed tan! I reckon the soon to be outdated style of mass tourism in Dubai was a lucky escape for Kuwait. Kuwait is subtler and would appeal to the crowd that wants to get away from the parties and cities a bit. North and south of Kuwait and all the islands are subtly beautiful and with the right technology modern resorts would be very appealing on Kuwaiti lands. Stopping dumping stuff in the sea is a good start and we have plenty of time to see how the world progresses. Oil is still better business right now!

Yay for oil till it runs out and look at how people rely on it…What does it go to? 8 million dollars in fireworks. How many historic sights that lets be honest only Kuwaitis not tourists would really care about could have been fixed up with that money?

You have to remember that the current generation in charge remembers what life was like pre-boom. When they were growing up Kuwait was basically a village. They remember what life was like without oil and probably would readjust if the oil was gone again.

In Aug 2012 Kuwait donated 1.25B to Jordan for development projects. This week Jordan has unveiled their new airport Queen Alia International Airport. Here lies the problem. Look at the Kuwait Airport, an airport that should have broken ground on a new terminal years ago. Kuwait touts a surplus budget of 56.7B yet look at Kuwait City? Why doesn’t anyone care about it’s capitol, it’s national carrier? Do you know that everytime Kuwait Airways lands in a foreign country it displays the status of the government – quite shabby wouldn’t you say? There is a basic development plan that this country needs to implement and it has been stalled whilst billions are donated to other countries to build their infrastructures. Why?

Sorry for the late reply. I was a couple of years late for a job interview in Kuwait once and still got the job. The later the better! Being on time is for people without the God given blessing of oil.

Anyway, not yay for oil, but not boo either. We all know it’s a double edged sword. I was only comparing tourism and oil. We clearly need to look at the challenges truthfully and fix them and not just wait, but if you know the guy who can get that done then please let me know, because I don’t. E.g The plans for modern tourism on Failaka and Bubyan were completed years/decade ago! Work started yet? Airport designed? Work started yet? How many outside consultants taking money? How many implemented solutions? Etc. I would just skip to the end and read Tarfa not me. It’s the corru… err impossibly slow beurocracy / rules and regulations that are slowing us down. And not letting any young Kuwaiti that has had a fortune spent on there education have any real say in anything until they are old and grey and the current system has beaten any drive or urge to change things out of them. I also personally know of many Kuwaitis and god knows how many more who try and return to Kuwait after studying and life is made so hard for them they return to USA, Europe or wherever where there skills are appreciated and they can have a life. This especially applies to the many talented Kuwaiti and half Kuwaiti women Kuwait creates and then neglects. They all say hi btw from wherever they are. They aren’t coming home to help us out anytime soon.

Look I love Kuwait. I really do. Which is why all my movies are about things in Kuwait or Kuwaitis. From music,artists to documentaries, people and charities. I want to show the world what Kuwait has to offer and the spirit many of its citizens and residents have. Since no one comes here for fun, but to work that is the only thing they will ever see probably. Kuwait is amazing but anyone who says it could not do better and outshines other places is delusional or just trying to keep the propaganda going. Instead of towing that line why not pressure leaders to try to make a difference. Oh well what do I know I am just an expat who will get about 50 get the f**k out messages in reply. I have been to Russia, the States, Korea, Japan and most of the Gulf Countries and Kuwait should do what Japan did during the restoration and take what it sees as the best of all cultures and cultivate that into their own style of doing it. Kuwait is a piece of coal that needs pressure to turn into a diamond.

Japan has a population right now of about 130 million, most of them Japanese. Kuwait has a bit more than 1 million citizens, there’s just so much you can do with such a small population. Don’t forget Japan actually still has a significant chunk of the population that lives in Rural areas with limited access to technology with jobs largely related to agriculture, they can’t all be in Tokyo. Kuwait’s ENTIRE population, including expats, is similar to the population of downtown Chicago (not even close counting suburbs). Even if you shifted the workforce from mostly redundant government jobs to private jobs that isn’t that many people. I have a lot more to say about this but damn I’d have to sit down for an hour and write it all out so I’ll stop myself. Kuwaitis are 0.01% of the world’s population, I never expected a tiny country to have a huge impact other than the resources it has anyway 🙂

Dubai had good leadership to pull it off but I wonder how long they can sustain it because they’re in a pretty similar position, people used to talk of Kuwait in the 70s like they talk of Dubai today.

True but I meant during the Meiji restoration. People wanted the old ways kind of like here but a lot wanted more modern things. Each had their points so they kind of met in the middle and flourished.

Kuwait is not going to change. Constant power struggles in parliament means increased political instability. Instability is a scary thing to any politician and the last thing they want to do is start changing laws in favor of tourism – or any other BIG change. Let’s face the music, tourism without alcohol doesn’t really work (I personally, do not drink).

IMHO, it’s too late for Kuwait to try and catch up with U.A.E and Qatar, there is just not enough willpower and not enough ambition.

Oil is a FINITE resource.

Qatar? I don’t see Qatar ever being half of what Dubai has to offer, hell, compared to Kuwait, it even has lower tourist attractions.

It’s just the main city that is worth looking at and I bet you can do it in a day or two, afterwards, what are you going to do? Yeah it’s a cute place to be in for a weekend, but not a week.

And?? U got a point? Qatar is on a path to economic successes, who gives a flying whoop if their population ratios differ from ours?

Package tours? Lol

For what? To walk around the malls? bathe on the BBQ littered beaches? or drink the fine wines at our restos?

Thought this discussion was on why Kuwait sucks at tourism rather than a Kuwait v. Dubai comparison. Even if the officials here took baby steps such as, knocking off visa requirement for all expats who are legal aliens resident in the GCC would give an impetus to moving away ever so slightly from a hydrocarbons based economy. Visa on arrival for professionals and highly skilled workers as doctors and lawyers no matter what country they are from would be a useful start.
Package tours from players such as Cosmos and Globus tours might help but above all else, rampant xenophobia evident in all walks of life here needs nipping in the bud. Very difficult to achieve though not impossible.

Package tours? Lol

For what? To walk around the malls? bathe on the BBQ littered beaches? or drink the fine wines at our restos?

They should cut subsidies honestly, it’s stupid how much people drive here because gas is cheaper than water.

Well it’s obvious tourism in Kuwait is a flop not strictly
because of the impossible Visa, but because there’s really nothing remarkable to see. Everything in Kuwait you can get a better and more accesible alternative anywhere in the peninsula.

I have been studying tourism and hospitality as my major in university for four years in Switzerland in one of the best universities for that. Now I am doing my Masters back in Switzerland. Kuwait honestly has nothing to offer due to thier laws and regulations. Also even studying this major is totaly not supported by the government which is horrible. I am a Kuwaiti citizen and I am absolutely embarrassed about what the country offers. With neighboring that are booming, it is only right that we expand our economic wealth not only in oil. Oil is not sustainable, and people will come up with other solutions for energy. Any input or ideas i come up with to enhance this sector is shut down, so you know what i would rather contribute to other countries that appreciate this matter. As well support my studies and not be seen as a waste!

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