Sudanese official calls to abandon sceptical view of Western tourists

The governor of Khartoum, Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein, has called on the Sudanese people not to be sceptical about Westerners visiting Sudan for tourism and recreation.

The statement came at a meeting in Khartoum held by governors of five states to find ways to develop the tourism sector, “in light of the [central] government’s disinterest in the sector.”

The meeting discussed the problems faced by tourist sites and natural reserves in Sudan. Hussein pointed out that the visit of Qatar’s Sheikha Moza bint Nasser to the Pyramids last month has focused the world’s attention on Sudan’s ancient civilization. “People did not know about the pyramids in Sudan, although they are older than the pyramids of Giza in Egypt,” he claimed.

Read: British delegation in Sudan for talks

The governor of the Red Sea state, Ali Ahmed Hamid, said that “some sites are not being used because they lack the basic elements to facilitate tourism; this costs the country millions of dollars in lost revenues,” he explained.

The central government was currently making it difficult for the tourism industry to flourish, primarily because of the complexities around the issuing of visas.

The number of tourists visiting Sudan has been increasing since 2014, reaching 741,000 in 2015 and nearly one million in 2016, according to government statistics.

The Sudanese Ministry of Tourism expects the figure to double to at least two million this year following the signing of several contracts with the Chinese government last November, which included an agreement to allow up to one million Chinese tourists to visit Sudan in the coming months.

Sudan is hoping that the number of tourists will rise to 5 million by 2020.