The greatest traveller the Arab world ever produced did things slowly. Although Ibn Battuta – born 719 years ago this week – journeyed from his home in Tangiers across North Africa, the Middle East, India and East Asia in his time, he took 28 years to do it.
The same cannot be said of the modern traveller. Although Covid-19 and the resulting global economic downturn put a halt to the gallop of 21st-century mass tourism, it is back with a bang as people take advantage of technology and transport the likes of which the Moroccan scholar, author and explorer could hardly have imagined.
According to data from the UN World Tourism Organisation released last month, international tourist arrivals could reach 80 to 95 per cent of pre-pandemic levels this year.
In all of human history it has never been easier to see so many countries in a short time. More than 900 million tourists travelled internationally last year, the UN says – double the number recorded in 2021. Every region recorded notable increases, with the Middle East experiencing the strongest relative rise as arrivals climbed to 83 per cent of pre-Covid numbers.
While tour guides, hotel owners, drivers and restaurateurs – not to mention the dozens of other professions that depend on tourism – will welcome this return, it should come with a caveat about the potential downside of mass travel.
Ask a resident of Venice, for example. The Floating City – a Unesco World Heritage Site – has been mobbed by visitors in recent years, with combined arrivals by domestic and international tourists reaching 2.1 million in 2021. Many would spill off the hulking cruise liners moored in the Venice lagoon until the Italian government eventually banned ships weighing more than 25,000 tonnes from docking.
Barcelona was another European destination to succumb. Its own population of just 1.6 million people was dwarfed in 2019 by a colossal 8.5 million international tourists, according to data from the city council. Irate residents and local leftists eventually resorted to hanging banners and daubing graffiti that bluntly told their thousands of unwanted guests to go home.
Many of Greece’s islands have suffered similar pressures. Among some of the most beautiful places in the world, these magnets for international visitors often have to endure crowded streets and overrun beaches. Many operate largely on a seasonal economy that is vulnerable to the whims of the tourist market or a global travel crisis, such as that caused by Covid.
Last year, the regional authority of Crete closed an entire island to tourists. Chrissi, an uninhabited outpost about 15km south of the Cretan mainland, once had 200,000 visitors a year until it became clear that its golden beaches and natural environment – including a 300-year-old cedar forest – needed a time out.
The ubiquity of social media plays a role here. We can, and do, post photos, videos and accounts of our travels in real time. Ibn Battuta’s travelogue – The Rihla (formal title: A Masterpiece to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling) was not completed until 1355, three decades after he began his first journey.
Even Ibn Battuta was confronted by the challenges presented by crowds of people gathered in the same place
Today, our travelogues are beamed directly and instantaneously to the phones of friends, family, colleagues and even complete strangers. That bucolic sunset on Santorini becomes a siren song, encouraging others to book their own flight. A more realistic picture would be to turn the phone 180 degrees around and capture the dozens of other visitors waiting and jostling for their turn to document and share a “unique” experience.
This is not an attack on people who want a holiday. Travel is the spice of life. Arriving in a favourite destination or exploring a new part of the world is a visceral experience that fixes our attention in the present as the sights, sounds and tastes of something out of the ordinary awaken our senses. That we often do so in the company of a loved one heightens the experience and builds shared memories.
Tourism is also an economic lifeline for millions of people. The World Travel and Tourism Council last year estimated that before the pandemic more than one in 10 jobs worldwide and more than 10 per cent of global gross domestic product were connected to the industry.
But any commodity that is too much in demand can distort the market. In the case of overtourism, it can have a negative effect on host communities and change the character of destinations. According to the Responsible Tourism Partnership, an advisory service, “local people are displaced by increasingly unregulated holiday lets, lawns are trampled to bare earth and beaches littered. Shops which used to meet the needs of residents are displaced by outlets selling expensive goods or tat to tourists”.
Thankfully, it seems that there is an awareness that tourism needs to be managed. This month, the UN declared February 17 as Global Tourism Resilience Day in an effort to make travel more sustainable. More than 90 countries backed the initiative, with Jamaica hosting the first Global Tourism Resilience Conference last week.
And, Zurab Pololikashvili, the UNWTO’s secretary general, has said that “tourism will only be sustainable if developed and managed considering both visitors and local communities”.
Even Ibn Battuta was confronted by the challenges presented by crowds of people gathered in the same place. Upon arrival in Cairo – “the mother of cities” – he was amazed at how “throngs surge as the waves of the sea, and can scarce be contained in her for all her size and capacity”.
Beautiful and historic locations will always be alluring but for them to remain enjoyable will require a careful management of our modern-day throngs of tourists.
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
The%C2%A0specs%20
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Other key dates
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Finals draw: December 2
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Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
List of alleged parties
May 15 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at
least 17 staff members
May 20 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'bring your own booze'
party
Nov 27 2020: PM gives speech at leaving do for his staff
Dec 10 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary
Gavin Williamson
Dec 13 2020: PM and Carrie throw a flat party
Dec 14 2020: London mayor candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff party at Conservative
Party headquarters
Dec 15 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
UNpaid bills:
Countries with largest unpaid bill for UN budget in 2019
USA – $1.055 billion
Brazil – $143 million
Argentina – $52 million
Mexico – $36 million
Iran – $27 million
Israel – $18 million
Venezuela – $17 million
Korea – $10 million
Countries with largest unpaid bill for UN peacekeeping operations in 2019
USA – $2.38 billion
Brazil – $287 million
Spain – $110 million
France – $103 million
Ukraine – $100 million
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score)
Porto (0) v Liverpool (2), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 611bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Price: upon application
On sale: now
Correspondents
By Tim Murphy
(Grove Press)
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 502hp at 7,600rpm
Torque: 637Nm at 5,150rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh317,671
On sale: now
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
The currency conundrum
Russ Mould, investment director at online trading platform AJ Bell, says almost every major currency has challenges right now. “The US has a huge budget deficit, the euro faces political friction and poor growth, sterling is bogged down by Brexit, China’s renminbi is hit by debt fears while slowing Chinese growth is hurting commodity exporters like Australia and Canada.”
Most countries now actively want a weak currency to make their exports more competitive. “China seems happy to let the renminbi drift lower, the Swiss are still running quantitative easing at full tilt and central bankers everywhere are actively talking down their currencies or offering only limited support," says Mr Mould.
This is a race to the bottom, and everybody wants to be a winner.
THREE
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How to improve Arabic reading in early years
One 45-minute class per week in Standard Arabic is not sufficient
The goal should be for grade 1 and 2 students to become fluent readers
Subjects like technology, social studies, science can be taught in later grades
Grade 1 curricula should include oral instruction in Standard Arabic
First graders must regularly practice individual letters and combinations
Time should be slotted in class to read longer passages in early grades
Improve the appearance of textbooks
Revision of curriculum should be undertaken as per research findings
Conjugations of most common verb forms should be taught
Systematic learning of Standard Arabic grammar
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Results
1.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner Al Suhooj, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Khalifa Al Neyadi (trainer)
2pm Handicap (TB) 68,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner Miracle Maker, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
2.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Mazagran, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
3pm Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
3.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh76,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner Alla Mahlak, Adrie de Vries, Rashed Bouresly
4pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner Hurry Up, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
4.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The biog:
From: Wimbledon, London, UK
Education: Medical doctor
Hobbies: Travelling, meeting new people and cultures
Favourite animals: All of them
The five pillars of Islam
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
