— Photos by Yasser Al- Zayyat

The US Embassy in collaboration with Qatar Airways held a "Travel and Tourism" Seminar, on Monday at Sheraton Hotel, as a part of 'Discover America' week.

During his speech, the US Ambassador to Kuwait Laurence Silverman, said "There are so many things to see from coast to coast: national parks, world-class beaches, global cities, museums, top restaurants, shopping, sports, and adventure tourism, to name just a few reasons to visit our great country. There really is something for everyone."

"In 2012, President Obama announced the goal of attracting at least 100 million tourists to the United States per year by 2021. We are well on our way to reaching this goal as last year, there were almost 80 million visitors. There were over 1.3 million visitors from the Middle East to the United States in 2015, a 97 percent increase from 2008. And from Kuwait, the number of tourist visas issued has increased by 500 percent in the last decade.  We would like to see that trend continue." He added.

Several locations around the United States were highlighted at the event which was attended by social media figure Omar Al-Othman who shared his experiences traveling through the US. Khaled Jafar gave a presentation on Alaska, the last frontier. A state of natural beauty is abundant, with ample wildlife commonly cited by visitors, and plenty of hiking opportunities, as well as a lot of cruise options. At the end of the event, the Embassy's Consul General, Tim Ponce, spoke on the current ease of applying for a US visa.

By Faten Omar