The Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Rula Maayah, and the Hungarian Ambassador to Palestine, Ksaba Rada, discussed ways and prospects for bilateral cooperation in the field of tourism.
During a meeting that brought them together at the Ministry’s headquarters in Bethlehem, which was attended by the Honorary Ambassador of Hungary to Palestine, Nassar Khamis, Minister Maayah presented the guest with a picture of the realistic and real conditions in the Palestinian territories, represented by the occupation’s procedures, including closures, walls, barriers, and incursions into Palestinian cities and camps.
She stressed the importance of the work that is taking place on the ground to ensure the return of Palestine as a beacon for tourist groups from various countries of the world, as Palestine received in 2019 more than 3.5 million tourists, thus achieving more than 2.7 million overnight stays in Palestinian hotels, and these are record numbers that we aspire to achieve again, especially in Palestine continued to possess a distinguished and unique group of tourist and archaeological sites, which qualifies it to be a unique tourist destination in the world.
Maayah pointed out the importance of direct networking between the Palestinian tourism sector and its Hungarian counterpart to increase the number of Hungarian tourist delegations coming to Palestine as part of Palestinian tourism programs and users of Palestinian tourism facilities, speaking about the tourism marketing plan pursued by Palestine to promote the Palestinian tourism sector.
In turn, the Hungarian ambassador thanked Minister Maayah for the warm reception, in addition to her cooperation in developing Hungarian-Palestinian relations in all fields, especially in the field of tourism and cultural heritage.
