Nabila Al-Anjari

KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti citizens spends 11 percent of his or her annual income on tourism, traveling and recreation, according to a recent study carried out by the World Trade Organization (WTO). This rate is the highest in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), followed by Saudi citizens who spend 7 percent, Qataris who spend 5.7 percent, Omanis who spend 3.3 percent and Bahrainis who spend 2.1 percent annually on tourism, the study shows.

On that regard, Kuwaiti tourism activist, feminist and media figure Nabila Al-Anjery renewed her call to establish a special ministry or authority for tourism in Kuwait. "Reviving tourism and enforcing it in Kuwait has become an urgent necessity in light of the Kuwait vision 2035 and its development plans for a new Kuwait," she underlined, reminding of the need to diversify national income resources and utilize renewable energy in order to stop relaying on oil as the only source of income.

Furthermore, Anjery added that many countries depend on tourism as a main source of national income, noting that the United States has the highest rate of annual tourism income at $210 billion followed by Spain at $68 billion, France at $60 billion, Thailand at $57 billion, UK at $51 billion, Italy at $44 billion, Australia at $41 billion and Germany at $40 billion.

"We in Kuwait should not ignore such facts if we are serious in finding other national income resources," she added, noting that it is possible to turn Kuwait into a tourist attraction, and expressed hopes that the project of developing Kuwaiti islands would begin so as to increase the number of foreign tourists as well as activate local tourism.