The Arab Republic of Egypt has come up with a new theme, which seeks to market its wide variety of tourist spots going beyond Pyramids and temples and the ancient mystic tourist spots.
“We have come up with a new theme that presents Egypt as a blend of antiquity and modernity, with a wide variety of options. Egypt has chosen India as one of the favoured countries to increase tourist traffic,” according to Mr Adel El Masry, Director, Egyptian Consulate, Tourism Office, in India.
During his visit to Hyderabad, Mr Masry said the diversity that Egypt presents is quite wide ranging from antique stuff to a truly modern desert experience, fishing, safari, adventure sport, health and Spa among others. “We see India along with China as two big potential markets less explored by us,” he said.
Higher potential now
Traditionally, Egyptian tourism is centred around visitors from a select number of nations, the UK, France, Italy, Russia, and accounted for nearly 11.8 per cent of Egypt's GDP with over 13 million tourists a year. India accounted for about 80,000 visitors last year. The potential is much more than that, he said.
Network building
The new theme ‘Where it all begins' replaces ‘Egypt has it all'. It has three major axis points — building a network of tour operators, building relations and companion airlines.
“We are talking to Kingfisher and Jet Airways to build on this concept. Significantly, Egyptian airliner, which operates four flights a week to Mumbai, may consider hooking up more destinations in India over a period,” he said.
“We are also in the process of holding city-centric events to promote tourism going beyond Delhi and Mumbai. This includes marketing Egypt Tourism for honeymooners,” he said.
Marketing it right
“As a part of this exercise, we plan to release a series of advertisements and also TV commercials to educate the people as to how attractive Egypt is, presenting unique experience both in terms of destinations and the varieties of cuisine on offer,” he explained.
“This is the time to visit Egypt as it is offering extremely attractive packages for visitors,” he said.
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