11th Red Sea tourism, shopping festival opens in Sudan amid int'l participation

PORT SUDAN, Sudan, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's First Vice President and National Prime Minister, Bakri Hassan Saleh, on Thursday inaugurated the 11th Tourism and Shopping Festival in eastern Sudan's Red Sea State, amid wide international participation.

Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, India, Turkey, Indonesia and China take part in the festival's current session.

The program of the festival, to continue from Dec. 7, 2017 until Feb. 7, 2018, includes many activities, on top of which there will be a tourism exhibition in which 50 international tourism companies and 70 local tourism and shopping companies are taking part.

The festival organizers believe that it has become an international event and one of the most important mechanisms for informing with Sudan's tourist potentialities.

"There is a wide participation for many countries in this session of the festival, which gives it an international nature," Mohammed Abu Zaid Mustafa, Sudan's Tourism Minister, told Xinhua.

"After ten sessions, the festival shifted from a local festival to be an international one. We are looking forward that the coming sessions would witness further international participation," he noted.

He stressed that the festival constitutes one of the most important mechanisms to inform with tourism in Sudan, saying "We are concerned to expand the tourist activity with the focus on such festivals and provide the necessary infrastructures for the tourism sector."

The festival is the largest touristic event in Sudan as well as an opportunity to exhibit the Red Sea State's cultural heritage in eastern Sudan.

To this end, Gen. Abdul-Khair Abdalla Nasir, Chairman of the festival's Higher Committee, told Xinhua that the festival program comprises many activities including an international tourist exhibition, lectures, seminars, and exhibitions reflecting heritage of Sudan's different areas.

"With this session, we shift with the festival from the regional level to international levels as many friendly and brotherly countries are participating with us. We welcome them all," he said.

He expressed hope that the current session of the festival would achieve its objectives in relation to informing with Sudan's tourist potentialities, attracting foreign tourists and building partnerships with foreign companies in field of tourism and shopping.

Sudan has been working to revive the tourism sector to embrace its natural position as an important resource for the country which has faced economic difficulties following South Sudan's separation in 2011, eliminating around 70 percent of Sudan's oil revenues.

According to the latest statistics from Sudan's tourism ministry, tourism revenues for 2015 amounted to 930 million U.S. dollars, with the number of tourists rising to 700,000.

Sudan's Red Sea State, 870 km east of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, is Sudan's number one tourist resort, with distinguished tourism venues including its beach which is one of the purest in the world, besides sea islands and nature reserves.

Furthermore, the Red Sea resorts enjoy a variety of marine life, coral reefs and tourism-related activities such as diving, underwater photography and fishing.

The coastal city of Port Sudan lies on the western coast of the Red Sea, two meters above sea level, and it is Sudan's main sea port as well as the capital of the Red Sea State.

Port Sudan's population amounts to around 579,942 people according to 2011 statistics and is considered Sudan's eastern gate. Enditem