Yemen Travel Guide

 Yemen is a country of contrasts, of past and present, where people still live in medieval times of the Arabian Nights, but are gradually waking up to the fact that there is a vast and excitingly different world outside their vision or knowledge. Despite lack of resources and recurrent political crises that have prevented the growth of tourism, Yemen is a very exciting country to visit. 

 It is the land of the Thousand and One (Arabian) Nights and the land of the Queen of Sheba. Due to its insularity, Yemen has an unusual cultural heritage acquired over a period of 3000 years of recorded history. There are no holiday resorts in Yemen, western style hotels are few and many of the country’s remarkable places are inaccessible, yet for the adventurous nothing is impossible, and it is worth making that effort.

After the civil war of 1994, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has become the undisputed leader of the Republic of Yemen. The nation had the first free elections in April 1993 (these were the very first elections held in the whole of the Arabian peninsula); almost 40 parties competed for the 301 seats of the parliament. The People’s General Congress of the North won 122 seats and the biggest religious party, Islah, won 62 seats. These two parties have formed the present government with Abdulaziz Abdulghani from the People’s General Congress as the prime minister. The Yemen Socialist Party of the South lost its influence in the civil war as it won only 57 seats. Independents and small parties hold the rest of the seats.

Yemen is a developing economy with very little industrialization. The estimated per capita GDP was less than US $ 1000 in 1994. Though there is great potential in agriculture, it is only small scale and meant for family upkeep. Oil, which was discovered in mid 1980s, has not much altered the economy of Yemen. The production of oil is still very low at about 350,000 barrels per day.

The 1970s saw labour exodus from Yemen, and both Yemens (North and South) lived off the remittances sent by Yemeni oil workers in the Gulf States. But this arrangement ended in October 1990 because of Yemen’s lack of support for UN resolutions against Iraq during the Gulf crisis, and Saudi Arabia expelled more than one million Yemenis. Unemployment is at about 35 % now. Though relations with Saudi Arabia have improved, it will take time for Yemen to recover economically.