Yemen Tourism Promotion Board (YTPB)
Yemen is Arabia’s Undiscovered gem. It is a country where you can find the world’s oldest skyscrapers, spectacular mountaintop villages, pristine coral reefs, and stunningly gorgeous trees unseen anywhere else on earth. You can journey through one of the world’s largest expanse of sand, or marvel at greenery so lush you’d wonder if you were in Arabia.
This is a country that breaths history through every pore, not only through its ancient ruins and monuments, but also through its traditions and culture which remain a part of everyday life.
Yet so little is known about the Real Yemen, that when visitors travel across the country, it is almost always a beautiful voyage of discovery.
From the breathtaking ancient skyscrapers of Shibam to the traditional Suqs of Sana’a and the unspoiled natural beauty of Socotra, you will learn a lot about what Yemen has to offer.
Yemen Tourism Promotion Board (YTPB):
Yemen Tourism Promotion Board (YTPB) was established in 1999, as a result of a study conducted by the European commission focused on ways to develop tourism in Yemen. The study stated that Yemen was very rich in terms of nature and culture tourism. However, the country was not investing and promoting its tourism resources efficiently to attract tourists.
The study concluded that it was very important to establish a board to promote tourism in Yemen. It recommended that the board should include all tourism-related agencies in both public and private sectors and adopt the function system of the private sector in order to evade the bureaucracy of the public sector.
The main task of YTPB is marketing and promoting the Yemeni tourism product overseas, especially in the main foreign tourism markets for Yemen, by implementing the following:
Participating in regional and International Tourism Exhibitions:
Participating in international tourism exhibitions is considered as one of the most important promotion method, since the exhibitions serve as platforms for foreign tourism companies gatherings. During the exhibitions, the local tour operator have the chance to meet their foreign counterparts and make deals while the YTPB’s duty is to promote the country and meet journalists from TVs, radios, newspapers..etc to work on coordination to produce programs and write articles to put the country on the right prospective. The following are the exhibitions that YTPB participates in annually:
- EMITT Exhibition in Istanbul Turkey
- BIT Exhibition in Milan Italy
- ITB Exhibition in Berlin Germany
- MATTA in Kualalampour Malaysia
- ATM Exhibition in Dubai UAE
- BITE Exhibition in Beijing China
- JATA Exhibition in Tokyo Japan
- Topresa Exhibition in Paris France
- WTM Exhibition in London UK
Advertising in International Satellite TV Channels:
In order to introduce the Yemeni tourism product worldwide and reaching as much people as possible, YTPB chose some of the best Arab and foreign satellite TV channels to air tourism promotion spots about Yemen. The channels include CNN, BBC, Al-jazeera, Al-Arabia, Atlas, and some French, Italy, Spanish, and German TV channels.
Advertising in International Newspapers and Magazines:
YTPB publishes tourism advertisements in some of the most popular foreign newspapers and magazines to invite people to visit Yemen and to make it one of their options. These newspapers and magazines are TTG, World Heritage, ABTA, Al – Mesafer Al – Arabi, Asfar, Islamic Tourism Magazine.
Monitoring Foreign Media:
Through its Public Relations Companies, YTPB monitors foreign media to follow what is published about Yemen, particularly negative articles and replied to them. For those who write positive articles about Yemen, YTPB express its appreciation by arranging fam trips for them to Yemen.
Advertizing in Local Media:
YTPB publishes enlightening advertisements in local media in order to speared awareness about the importance of tourism as a vital economic source among people.
Contracting with Public Relations Firms:
YTPB has signed contracts with Public Relations firms in France, Italy, Germany, UK (Ireland), Spain, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Japan. One of the PR company’s tasks is to negotiate with tour operators to include Yemen in their programs, monitor the media in their countries, arrange for activities and events, and coordinate for press and fam trips for tour operators and journalists to Yemen. This is to put Yemen as a rich country that has a lot to offer.
Conducting European Promotion Campaign:
In coordination with the PR firms, YTPB implements tourism promotion campaigns and holds press conference in France, Italy, Germany, and Britain.
Producing Promotion Materials:
YTPB produces various promotion materials including brochures, CDs, maps, movies, documentaries, books, gifts… etc. in different languages.
Supporting Tourism Festivals:
YTPB supports local festivals that aim to encourage the inbound tourism and present different tourism products in Yemen to citizens and foreigners.
Benjamin Carey