One of the Lebanese private sector’s strongest and most effective backers is the country’s vast diaspora, reckoned to be made up of anywhere between 4 million and 14 million people, pumping an estimated $7.5bn, 15 per cent of GNP, in remittances into the country each year.

Three rickshaw men from Tokyo will embark on a round-the-world trip on Monday, taking turns pulling a rickshaw over five continents in around three years. The men - Yuji Suzuki, 26; Ken Hirano, 26; and Keisuke Takahashi, 25 - are all hoping to inform those who do not have a chance to visit Japan about Japanese culture and the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo.

The nation branding project will be discontinued in October in favour of an operation to promote the country. The announcement was made by Luxembourg's Secretary of State of the Economy at the opening of Luxembourg's first event dedicated to MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Events) tourism.  

The tide is turning for Ethiopia’s tourism industry, as the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently announced it plan to triple the number of foreign visitors, to more than 2.5 million, by 2020, with an ultimate goal of making Ethiopia one of Africa’s top five tourist destinations [by 2020 says a journalist from Daily Mail.

he challenges will always be there. When you look at nations like the US and China, they still have political challenges. [...] as a resilient South Africa, are going through that phase. We are a developing nation that is faced with many challenges, but instead of being overwhelmed and being overtaken by this negativity, Brand SA has chosen to work with people who actually want to promote the good news. 

On August 26, the "Sensing China-Travel to Kazakhstan" exhibition formally opened at Kazakhstan National University in the nation's largest city Almaty. [...] the exhibition will last for six days and features a photo exhibition and tourism promotion, a "Created in China" economics and trade fair, the "establishing China" pavilion, the China intangible cultural heritage exhibition, and media visits between China and Kazakhstan.

The Malaysian embassy in Santiago has embarked on a Public Diplomacy Programme with a group of high school students [...] in an effort to further promote Malaysia, specifically in the region. Malaysian Ambassador to Chile, Datuk Dr Mohamad Rameez Yahaya, said that during the programme, the students got to know Malaysia better through video shows on tourism in Malaysia 

This series of events will draw international attention to the small, landlocked nation of 5.72 million. The World Nomad Games, in particular, will draw the kind of benign soft power attention most countries relish. The attention is much desired, especially when it comes with a potential boost to tourism in one of the region’s poorest states.