Tourism

JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

UAE becomes first Mideast country with one of world's strongest passports

Emirati citizens have access to 184 destinations without a visa or with a visa on arrival.

United Arab Emirates

A picture taken from a station of Dubai's Palm Monorail, shows traffic on a road in Palm Jumeirah on August 28, 2025.

World Bank ups Middle East 2025 economic outlook as oil, tourism rebound

The lender expects gross domestic product growth in the region to average 2.8% this year, up from its April forecast of 2.6%.

Newly elected Miss Lebanon Perla Harb poses on stage after winning the Miss Lebanon 2025 pageant, in Zouk Mosbeh, north of Beirut, on Oct. 4, 2025.

Culture

Miss Lebanon 2025 crowned in ceremony highlighting culture, heritage

Lebanon crowned Perla Harb as the country’s new beauty queen in a grand ceremony highlighting Lebanese culture.

Sheraton

Culture

Damascus hotel to get revamp in Syria-Saudi partnership: What we know

The rebranding and rehabilitation of the Seven Gates Hotel comes as part of an agreement between the Syrian government and the Saudi-owned Le Park Concord hospitality group.

Latest News

Saudi Arabia's PIF buys $2B majority stake in entertainment giant MBC

The Public Investment Fund is present during the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 13, 2024, in Indian Wells, California.

Saudi Arabia, UAE firms sign $18.5B tourism megaproject for Egypt

KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images

Qataris hail Chinese robotaxis as Gulf embraces driverless cars

WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid airport sets record with 3.9M passengers in July

People wait for the arrival of relatives at King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on the first commercial flight from Qatar on Jan. 11, 2021.

Souvenir stand in Petra, Jordan.

Gendarmerie operation sparks controversy in Petra, Jordan

Petra’s tribal entrepreneurs react to a security operation carried out inside Jordan’s most-visited UNESCO World Heritage Site with criticism and concern for their livelihoods.

AFP via Getty Images

With warming of diplomatic ties, Israel, Turkey expect bilateral trade boom

Now that diplomatic relations have improved, Israel hopes to increase and expand its exportations to Turkey in fields such as water treatment, smart agriculture and energy.

NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images

Egypt to adopt Russian Mir payment system to encourage tourism, trade exchange

Russian tourists and companies will be allowed to pay through the Russian Mir system in Egypt ahead of the winter season, which Cairo is hoping will boost its tourism sector.

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities restorers and archaeologists restore the statue of King Thutmose II.

Culture

Egypt restores massive statue of King Thutmose II

Within the scope of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities’ efforts to restore monuments and paintings at the Karnak Temple complex in Luxor, the Supreme Council of Antiquities completed the restoration work of the statue of King Thutmose II on the southern facade of Karnak.

An aerial view of Warraq Island on the Nile River on the northern outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, May 14, 2021.

Cairo evicts Nile island residents for development project

Egyptian security forces and residents of the Nile River's Warraq Island are clashing as the government tries to evict them as part of a development plan.

British archaeologist Howard Carter (1874-1939) (R).

Culture

New evidence emerges of looting of King Tut's tomb in Egypt

While Egypt celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb, new evidence emerged that the discoverer, Howard Carter, stole objects from it.

MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images

Culture

On lightning vacations, Ultra-Orthodox pour onto segregated Israeli beaches

Israel's ultra-Orthodox have only three weeks of yeshiva break, and they take their brief summer vacation very seriously.

Moroccan Justice Minister Abdellatif Wehbe (R) and Israeli Justice Minister Gideon Saar (L) shake hands after signing an agreement, Rabat, Morocco, July 26 , 2022.

Israeli ministers fast-track deepening of ties with Morocco

Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Regional Cooperation Minister Issawi Freij and Justice Minister Gideon Saar are only a few of the Israeli ministers and senior officials who have visited Morocco recently.

Rashid Hassan teaches visitors how to harvest lavender correctly.

Lavender ecotourism throws lifeline to rural Lebanese villages

As Lebanon experiences a tourism hike this summer, rural villages and attractions hope to draw tourists away from the capital with the help of ecotourism companies. A day spent discovering lavender in the south is one example.

Passengers arriving from the United States walk with their luggage at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Lod, Israel, Nov. 1, 2021.

US urges Israel to expedite legislation needed for visa waiver

A senior official at the US Embassy in Jerusalem warned that if the Knesset waits until after the Nov. 1 elections to pass legislation required for the American visa-waiver plan, the wait for entering the program could be very long.

A handout picture released by the Egyptian Presidency on August 14, 2018.

Saudi Arabia’s NEOM project to bring huge investments to Egypt

Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said his country will invest in Sharm el-Sheikh as part of $500 billion NEOM project.

Israeli Ambassador to Uzbekistan Zehavit Ben-Hillel together with students at Webster University in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, November 2021.

Israel tightens ties with Uzbekistan

The recently signed agreement over Uzbeki nursing staff traveling to Israel only highlights the rapid growth in economic, diplomatic and cultural relations between the two countries.