THE Ministry of Tourism in Egypt and the Egyptian Tourist Authority (ETA) are looking to boost efforts to enhance tourism into Egypt. At a press conference held in Dubai, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, Minister of Tourism of Egypt, announced that the Ministry aims to raise the rates of tourism in Egypt back to the levels witnessed in 2010.
The minister reviewed the ministry’s strategy in Arabian markets during the coming period, which looks towards highlighting Egypt’s pioneering and solid position as a key driver of the most important historical, cultural and artistic events in the region, and as one of the favourite destinations for tourists from around the world.
The ministry’s strategy provides on-going support to its partners in the trade sector through joint advertising and marketing campaigns, organising familarisation trips by inviting tour operators and travel agents to visit the touristic destinations in Egypt and introduce them to various products offered by Egypt for Arab tourists.
Moreover, the Ministry of Tourism’s strategy focuses on Egypt’s willingness to receive tourists throughout the year and to work on organising various artistic and cultural events and festivals. The strategy also emphasises the importance of strengthening the Ministry and ETA’s presence and participation in the most important tourism fairs in Arab countries in addition to increasing press trips to Egypt by inviting representatives of the most important Arab media outlets to shed light on Egypt as a tourist destination.
Abdel Nour said: “During the coming months, the Ministry of Tourism of Egypt will seek through its strategic plans to bring back tourism rates to their previous levels witnessed in 2010. We will focus our efforts on various global markets, particularly the Arab ones, where the rate of Arab tourists during the first three months of this year has witnessed a growth of about 62.9 per cent compared with the overall rate of increase in visitors during the first quarter, which only amounted to 32 per cent.”
Furthermore, he pointed out that the Ministry’s participation at the recently concluded Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai this year illustrates the unique relationship that brings the UAE and Egypt together, which is reflected through the increase of number Emirati tourists to Egypt by 80 per cent in March 2012 compared with March 2011.
He added: “Through its strategy, the Ministry communicated with travel agencies and hotel establishments to urge them to provide more offers and programs specifically designed for Arab tourists. These should tailored for destinations located on the shores of the Red Sea such as Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada and Marsa Alam, in addition to Cairo, Alexandria and the North Coast; and for the duration of the next summer season, Ramadan and Eid Al Fitr. During the next few days, the fruits of these communication and cooperation efforts with travel agencies will present themselves through the competitive prices to be offered in the international travel and tourism market compared with different countries around the globe. Additionally, this cooperation will result in an increase in the diversity of tourism products offered by Egypt to meet the needs of all Arab tourists segments which suit their different tastes.”
Abdel Nour shed light on the significant improvement made within the Egyptian tourism industry, particularly with regards to security and stability despite some individual events, where the Egyptian tourism sector managed to reduce negative impacts resulting from recent political events, and was able to achieve continuous growth month after month. He also explained that the success achieved is due to the solid and sturdy foundations of the Egyptian tourism sector, and to Egypt’s pioneering role as one of the most important tourist destinations in the region and around the world.
“I expect the tourism flow to return to the tourism levels we recorded in 2010,” Abdel Nour said while praising the positive role that the Arab and international media played in portraying Egypt as a safe destination by not “limiting Egyptian tourism to Tahrir Square”. In addition, the minister called on the media to communicate with the ministry to elicit “accurate information regarding tourism in different parts of Egypt”.
Records show that the number of Arab tourists who visited Egypt during the three months of this year is 483,834 tourists in 2012 compared to 296,980 tourists during the same period in 2011, which shows an increase of about 62.9 per cent.
Furthermore, the number of nights Arab tourists spent in Egypt is about 7.4 million nights, compared to approximately four million nights in the first quarter of 2011, which again shows an increase 84.4 per cent. In addition, the number of Emirati tourists during the first quarter of 2012 is 4,883 in oppose to 4,232 tourists in the same period of 2011, an increase of 15.4 per cent.