Stable things in the downturn

Today, there is a comment in The National by Sheikh Khalifa, President of the UAE, saying the financial crisis is under control. And, struggling to wake up this morning, I heard on BBC World News that a high-ranking official in the US argues the crisis there could be over by the end of the year if banks started lending again. Of course it takes some searching to discover such voices of cautious optimism - not many see "green shoots". In fact, there's been a UK minister who was only recently being criticized for using that expression.

But indeed there are sectors that defy the current downturn - and I'm not merely speaking of the likes of Air Arabia, apparently the first company to introduce low-cost carrier services in the Middle East modelled after European examples (did I mention I'm doing PR for them?). No, I'm speaking of a sector that may not be high up on the list of unprompted answers about 'industries you know' in a survey of public opinion: religious travel.

The head of a religious-travel trade group yesterday said that the UAE could build tourism despite the current global challenges by catering to pilgrims during the haj - the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which every Muslim who is financially able to do so is required to undertake at least once in his life (the haj is, as you may know, one of the five pillars of islam). Apparently, the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia brings in US 1.8billion per year, with experts arguing that "religious tourism is recognised as one of the most resilient markets in the industry".

Good to know there are stable things around. Now, how can we transfer this insight to Europe?