KUWAIT: Accordingto official statistics, Kuwaitis' total spending on travel increased by 17.6percent in 2018, where they spent KD 4.03 billion ($13.9 billion), compared toonly KD 3.43 billion ($11.31 billion) in 2017. The statistics also showedrevenues from tourism have retreated by 10.6 percent as the tourism sector onlymade KD 378 million compared to KD 423 million in 2017. A World TourismOrganization (UNWTO) study had pointed out Kuwaitis annually spend 11 percentof their income on tourism, travelling and recreation - the highest in GCCstates - followed by Saudis, who spend 7 percent of their income on tourism,Qataris 5.7 percent, Omanis 3.3 percent and Bahrainis 2.1 percent.

Price control

Minister ofsocial affairs Saad Al-Kharraz stressed that the ministry is closely monitoringconsumer goods prices in various co-ops during Ramadan to prevent anyunjustified price hikes accompanying the high demand during the holy month.Speaking on the sidelines of an iftar with residents of social care homes,Kharraz said special teams had been formed in collaboration with the Ministryof Commerce and Industry, the Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies and thePublic Authority for Manpower to tour and inspect various co-ops and fineviolators.

High schoolgraduates

Kuwait Universityis scheduled to hold a meeting within a few days with various educationalfacilities including private universities and the Public Authority for AppliedEducation and Training (PAAET) to discuss the admission of high schoolgraduates for the next academic year (2019-2020), said informed sources. Thesources added that this meeting is held on an annual basis to set thearrangements to open local and overseas scholarships according to budgets,capacities and labor market needs.

Fake degrees

The Manpower andGovernment Restructuring Program (MGRP) recently asked the Ministry ofEducation to provide it with information concerning the academic sequence andthe validity of degrees obtained by around 40 of its employees, as it launchedan investigation into suspicions that some of them could have fake degrees.

South Khaitanproject

Head of the SouthKhaitan housing project's committee Bader Al-Mutairi predicted that ifeverything goes according to schedule without any obstacles, constructionorders will be distributed to beneficiaries by the end of 2020. Mutairi addedcommittee members recently met the Public Authority for Roads and Transportation'sdeputy director Soha Ashkanani, who told them that receiving bids for thetender of building the project's infrastructure will be completed on May 26,then the offers will be studied.

Cleaning tenders

Well-informedsource at Kuwait Municipality said the municipality's executive body is fullycommitted to studying cleaning bids within a month after receiving them fromthe Central Agency for Public Tenders. "We received the offers on March 11and sent our reply on April 11, which means there is no delay on ourside," the sources stressed. The sources added that the municipalitysuggested conditioning that contractors only take one project each in order tocreate competitiveness amongst them and help reduce costs, which has alreadyhappened as new contracts cost 55.65 percent less than the previous ones. 

By A Saleh andMeshaal Al-Enezi