As for Syria, whereas western tourism rose by a lean 19% between 1990 and 1997, Arab tourism shot up by 82%.

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In Perth, in western Australia, they rose by almost 46% over the year.

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The pro-Western Saakashvili came to power in Georgia's "Rose Revolution" in 2003 and was elected president in 2004 and 2008.

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The Western Union deal was engineered by First Data veteran Charles Fote, 55, who rose to chief executive two years ago.

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