Sitting majestically at the crossroads between Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean, Egypt’s breathtaking destinations, combining exquisite nature and luxurious resorts, tell the stories of 5,000 thousand years of tales about one of the world’s most ancient civilisations.
In addition to the captivating historical and cultural heritage, a warm welcome awaits visitors in this country where spirited people and a lively social and artistic agenda continue to inspire life-changing experiences and adventures all year round.
It is the spirit of Egypt that keeps bringing people back time and again. In fact, a recent survey conducted by the Egyptian Tourism Authority, and executed by AC Nielsen, revealed that about 90 per cent of Arab travellers have visited Egypt, 30 per cent of them during 2009 alone.
The study reinforced the perception that Arabs have long had of Egypt as a vibrant country with fun-loving, friendly and warm people.
The tourism authority is actively working to maintain and grow tourist traffic to reach 16 million visitors in 2014 and 25 million in 2020. With that in mind, it has developed a comprehensive marketing strategy that will be executed in 26 markets globally and in the Arab world.
The main target of the new campaign is to invite visitors, mainly families and youngsters, to rediscover the true spirit of Egypt with its rich heritage, lively entertainment and its diverse and vibrant destinations.
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The pyramids |
The campaign, to be launched in the Arab world during the Arabian Travel Market, is built on a heart and mind approach that aims to promote different tourism products. It includes above the line and below the line campaigns to showcase the various established and new destinations. At the same time, it will shed light on what these destinations have to offer in terms of city holidays, shopping, nightlife and others.
With beach tourism representing a major part of the tourism revenues in Egypt (around 65 per cent in 2008), the plan for this year is to focus on the Mediterranean north coast where visitors are invited to discover new attractions such as Marina El Alamein, a tourist village with an 11-km-long beach and Porto Marina Resort, which features the first international yacht marina in the eastern part of North Africa. In addition the authority is promoting Marsa Matrouh, Al Alamein and the more traditional locations such as Alexandria, which was named this year’s Capital for Arab Tourism and has a series of events planned to celebrate this special year.
The Egyptian Tourism Authority is focusing too on the exclusive beach cities on the Red Sea such as Port Ghalib, Marsa Alam, El Gouna, Soma Bay and Sahl Hasheesh in addition to presenting the diverse set of activities that are on offer at Sharm El Sheikh, the well established destination.
Internally, the Ministry of Tourism has launched a number of initiatives in recent years to improve the quality of services and develop better human resources. Various educational programmes have been conducted to enhance the skills of professionals in the tourism sector such as staff at hotels and resorts, drivers of tourist vehicles, representatives of the tour operators and tour guides among others. In 2009, a new protocol was established to equip all vehicles transporting tourists with GIS and GPS devices to identify irregularities and limit accidents. A number of infrastructural projects are also in progress including the development of Terminal 3 at Cairo airport last year and the expansion of Matrouh Airport, Taba Airport and Borj Al Arab Airport on the north coast.