HVS takes on advisory role to help progress Abraham Accords tourism initiatives

Thursday, July 21, 2022

Global hotel consultancy HVS has announced that it will be working with the US-based Abraham Accords Peace Institute (AAPI) to help develop and expand tourism initiatives in each Abraham Accords country with the aim of enabling each country’s economy to grow materially as a result.

The Abraham Accords was a series of joint initiatives agreed in 2020 between the US, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain and Sudan, and was the first public statement normalising diplomatic and economic relations between an Arab country and Israel since the historic relationships established with Egypt and Jordan.

The initiative with AAPI was spearheaded by Steve Mendell, founder of the HVS offices in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and Russell Kett, chairman of HVS London, a specialist in Israel’s economic and tourism sector, who will be responsible for executing HVS’s role.

“Our aim is to develop initiatives that lead to materially significant improvements in tourism bilaterally, inter-regionally and, potentially, inter-regionally too. We are very pleased to be involved with this historic initiative and to bring our experience and knowledge of the tourism sector to help improve and foster stronger relations between the countries, and for tourism to contribute to the growth of their economies,” commented Kett.

HVS will be working to devise ways of tracking tourism growth, optimising cooperation between each country, co-ordinating tourism-related events, assisting in the development of relations between key tourism officials as well as helping to conduct research and analysis on the sector.

“The Abraham Accords are the most significant development in the Middle East in decades and AAPI is particularly well positioned to continue to develop and deepen the Accords. Based on HVS’s broad experience in tourism generally and in the Middle East in particular, we are confident HVS can be a force multiplier for AAPI’s efforts to strengthen the Accords,” concluded Mendell.

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