Nation aims to attract 30 million foreign visitors in next five years

CAIRO - Egypt hopes to witness a strong recovery in its tourism sector in 2012 by improving services and infrastructure while attracting visitors from more diverse parts of the globe, a top tourism official said.

Egyptian Tourism Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour told China Daily in an exclusive interview that he is confident about the revival of Egypt's tourism sector, as it still has strong competitive advantages and the domestic political situation is improving.

To reach the goal of reviving the industry and to attract a total of 30 million tourists within five years, diversifying markets is the top priority, he said.

"While we secure the traditional markets in European countries and the US, a large proportion of the growth will rely on new markets in Asia and Latin America, including China, India and Brazil," he said.

In 2011, more than 1.8 million Russian tourists visited Egypt, followed by those from the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy.

While continuing to improve the level of related infrastructure and services, several promotional campaigns have been tailor-made to attract potential tourists from different countries, he added.

"For instance Egypt alone may not be the only destination for a guest from a remote place like China, so we are planning a joint marketing program with the Greek and Turkish tourism ministries to attract more tourists from China, connecting three of the oldest civilizations on Earth," he said.

He also said the country will soon re-launch a long-distance River Nile cruise from Cairo to Luxor and Aswan, which has been suspended for more then two decades.

As security remains the biggest concern for foreign tourists traveling to Egypt, he said various government agencies were working together to guarantee their safety.

"Whoever will be the president and whatever the new government will be, the country can't do without revenue from the tourism industry," he said, adding that every 1 million increase in tourist numbers would create 200,000 new jobs in Egypt.

Abdel-Nour said recently that 10 million tourists visited Egypt amid the country's dramatic social and political developments in 2011, indicating that it remains an important tourist destination.

According to figures released by the ministry, around 9.8 million people visited Egypt in 2011, a decline of 33 percent compared with 2010.

As a main pillar of the Egyptian economy, tourism accounted for 11.3 percent of annual GDP and had a total revenue of $12.5 billion in 2010, but the figure fell to $8.8 billion in 2011.

"Main destinations like Cairo, and upper Egypt including Luxor and Aswan were severely affected," he said, adding that the Sinai Peninsula was not influenced that much as it was far away from the epicenter of the national political upheaval.

He said just after the January uprising, the number of tourists slumped 80 percent in February.

He added that the only reason accounting for the decline was the security situation, which was over exaggerated and stereotyped by the international media, especially from the West.

"What happened in Tahrir Square was widely reported and gave an impression that all of Egypt was unstable and insecure," he said. "That was absolutely wrong because it's not representative. In fact, tourist destinations were quite stable and peaceful."

He said when the situation improved in the middle of the year, the Western media fell silent and was reluctant to pay attention to Egypt.

"We tried every possible means to persuade people to come back, but eventually the figure was still not that good," he said.

According to Abdel-Nour, the Egyptian tourism ministry invited 57 groups of foreign reporters to the country, bargained with airlines not to reduce the capacity of their flights to Cairo, and participated in tourism fairs around the globe.

China Daily