JEDDAH: The Alghat Cooperative Association of Saudi Arabia was one of the recipients of the Special jury awards given by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) at the ceremony Thursday night in Vilamoura, Portugal. The other two were Uruguay's tourism and sports ministry, and the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe. The 2011 Ulysses Awards were given by the UNWTO to a series of state institutions, private enterprises and non-profit organizations. In the enterprises category, the winners were Ingelia of Spain for a project transforming organic waste into biofuel for more sustainable tourism; OHL Desarrollos of Mexico for sustainable and responsible tourism development at a resort; and TCI Research of Belgium for a global survey measuring tourist satisfaction and trip quality. International tourism continues to recover from the global financial crisis and downturn of 2008-09, rising in every region of the world except the Middle East and North Africa during the first two months of this year, according to new United Nations figures. The latest update of UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) barometer showed that international tourist arrivals grew by almost 5 percent to more than 124 million in January and February this year compared to the same period in 2010. Europe overall performed better than expected, partly because of travel redirected to Southern and Mediterranean Europe following the unrest in many nations in North Africa and the Middle East, where visitor numbers slumped by 9 percent and 10 percent respectively. Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of the UNWTO, said the latest data indicates that the tourism sector is consolidating the recovery begun last year. "News is especially positive for emerging economies and developing countries, particularly for Africa, where tourism is increasingly recognized as a driver of development, exports and jobs," he said. Rifai added the fall in visitor demand in Tunisia and Egypt after the recent unrest there, and a similar slump in Japan following the March earthquake and tsunami, is now "expected to have bottomed out and the recovery of these important destinations will surely be consolidated during the year."
