‘We have already doubled our tourism promotional budget for India’

Egypt's economic mainstay, tourism, suffered dramatically during the democratic political movement last year. Adel El Masry, director, Egypt Tourism Office, India speaks of different measures that have been taken to improve the situation, also what the tourism office has planned for India. By Sayoni Bhaduri

Please share the impact on the Egyptian Tourism post the volatile scenario in early 2011?

Adel El Masry

The democratic political movement in the country was aimed at the development of the institutional framework of the state and a democratic society in Egypt. Egypt is receiving immense support from several nations who have partnered to improve the situation by lifting travel advisories against Egypt. We are confident that there will not be any problems pertaining to the security and safety of travellers. The tourism authority is working toward its goal in cooperation with tour operators and media (electronic, print and wire).

What has been the Egyptian Tourism’s strategy to recover from the events?

Our strategy is based on the following three aspects, for tour operators, for the media and for the airline company. For our tour operator we will organise training sessions for the sales and marketing staff so that they have sufficient knowledge to sell Egypt as a tourist destination. We will increase our budget for joint campaigns to help them sell Egypt as a destination for MICE, honeymooners amongst others. Arrange FAM trips for our tour operators and make them experience the country’s new destinations and sponsor, organise and partner with them for the upcoming events. As you know we coordinate a lot of events through Egypt Air as they are our national carrier and Egypt Air is the only airline having direct flights to Egypt. and the airline has increased the flights from three per week to five flights per week.

Besides this, we also participate in many travel and trade exhibitions or related events and explore opportunities to promote Egypt as the most preferred destination. Recently, we organised MATA in Malaysia and we also plan to organise conferences for TAAI and TAFI in Egypt. In India, Egypt Tourism Office participated in two big travel trade exhibitions in Mumbai and Delhi.

What have been the investments to rejuvenate the country's tourism?

We have already doubled our tourism promotional budget for India from half million dollars to US$ one million in the current year. We will be working closely with various travel agencies, tour operators and the airline companies flying tourists into Egypt to promote the destination and increase tourist traffic there.

What plans do you have to instill interest in Egypt here?

India is a very important market for us and we have been constantly planning new activities to promote Egyptian Tourism in India. Our cultural events organised in India like the Egyptian Nite, Egyptian Cultural Week and the musical performances have always received great audience.

What are the new destinations and sights that are to be promoted, apart from the Pyramids and the Sphinx?

Egypt tourist destinations offers something to all its visitors. It has the pyramids, ancient temples and several museums. If absolute relaxation is on your mind, then there are several beach destinations. Egypt provides one of the finest Mediterranean cuisine and is one of the best destinations for shoppers. One must visit the historic tourist destinations such as Abu Simbel, Alexandria, Aswan, Cairo, Giza and Luxor along with fast developing modern cities such as Hurghada and Sharm-el-Sheikh. Also we have re-introduced the Long Nile Cruise on the demand of tour operators, which starts from Cairo to Aswan.