Peace Through Tourism at the Muscat Festival

By Hassan al-Lawati
Translation of Al Watan, Oman article

Development and progress need peace, without which all factors and conditions of progress get paralyzed. Peace has several political, social and economic aspects. However the tourist aspect of peace is in no way less important than other aspects. Muscat Festival hosted the International Institute for Peace through Tourism for one week at al-Qurum Natural Park. This institute is one of the non-profit establishments in the United States of America. The institute’s corner includes a number of photos and posters from the State of South Carolina. The institute announces and promotes the Third Summit of International Peace through Tourism, scheduled for October 2 – 5, 2006, at the Coastal Royal Cliff, Pataya, Thailand.

Before talking about the goal and ideas behind these photos and posters, Star Calloway, introduced herself to us in a simple Arabic language “My name means “Najma” (a star)” and she went on talking enthusiastically about the International Institute of Peace Through Tourism, saying, “There is great similarity between Muscat and South Carolina. We seek to demonstrate this similarity as represented in the sea, beautiful beaches, date palm trees, and the mild weather.” She added, “We visited the Sultanate in 2002 and saw a number of places of tourist and natural attraction. It was an exploratory tour, and we found many similarities. We are glad to take part in Muscat Festival 2005. We seek to achieve peace through tourism. We are an organization dedicated to promoting and facilitating tourism initiatives that help with worldwide understanding and cooperation. We wish this festival all the success and progress.”

Wednesday, February 2, 2005.

Back to News Bureau