Two main goals are behind Egypt’s efforts to strengthen its tourism sector; the first is to diversify sources of funding to face its economic crisis, and the second is to address the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war that negatively impacted incoming tourism.
Russian and Ukrainian tourists represented 35 percent of inbound tourism to Egypt before the recent war, according to figures recently issued by the Tourism Promotion Authority in Egypt.
Hence, responsible authorities in Egypt are making unremitting efforts to promote tourism in other markets, including Germany, England, Italy, and Spain.
This topic was also the focus of meetings conducted by the Tourism Promotion Authority during its participation in the Arab Travel Market, which was held recently in Dubai.
This is in addition to the launch of the “Your Vacation With Us” campaign to promote Egyptian tourism for the summer 2022 season.
Growth despite disruptions
While the tourism sector contributes 12 percent of the Egyptian GDP and supports 10 percent of total jobs, experts expected that Egypt would be one of the most prominent destinations to spend the summer this year.
Officials are also counting on domestic tourism, which would boost the sector’s growth as well.
The British Minister of State for Tourism had indicated that, according to ABTA statistics, there is an increase in demand to visit Egypt, speaking of the confidence of tourists in the Egyptian travel destination.
Experts expect that the number of tourists will rise during 2022 to about 7 million and that Egypt will achieve about $7.2 billion in revenues from this sector.
Tourism in Egypt is divided into two parts
Tourism in Egypt is divided into two parts: cultural tourism and beach-themed entertainment.
Spending on cultural tourism is higher because tourists use local services, such as transportation networks, and visit museums, shop from local bazaars and eat in popular places that are considered attractive.
But this does not mean at all understating the importance of beach tourism, especially in the Red Sea and Sinai such as Sharm El Sheikh, which is important for tourism and the economy.
Megaprojects
Egypt has introduced huge tourism and archaeological projects that increased the interest of tourists, such as the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), the Palace of Muhammad Ali Pasha in Shubra, and the Museum of Capitals in the City of Arts and Culture.
The Egyptian state-owned El-Nasr Housing and Development Company also signed an agreement with the Saudi International Engineering Company, Scope, to develop the Mokattam Corniche project.
It is expected that this real estate, entertainment, and tourism project will generate revenues of up to 61 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.3 billion).
The project will include real estate development of luxury housing units and administrative and commercial properties.
Promotional campaigns
The government also launched a promotional campaign on social media to promote Egyptian tourism for the summer 2022 season, entitled “Your Vacation With Us”.
The campaign targets the main Arab markets, especially Saudi, the UAE, Kuwait, and Jordan, in addition to encouraging Egyptians to spend their vacations inside the country.
The campaign coincided with the Arab Travel and Tourism Forum (ATM 2022), which reflects the interest of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in the Arab market.
This campaign was preceded by another international promotional campaign broadcast on CNN entitled “Follow the Sun”, which achieved remarkable success and positive results in terms of coverage, according to the Egyptian Assistant Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Mia Kamel.
The Egyptian government is also continuously coordinating operations with tourism exporters, with the aim of diversifying visitors and not relying on tourism from certain markets only.
Egypt’s plan to promote tourism relies on holding consecutive activities throughout the year, having an agenda of celebrations and events, and making the country a tourist destination that draws the attention of tourists of all nationalities.
The focus is also on supporting eco-tourism, which is important in Egypt, especially with rich marine life across its shores.
On the other hand, Egypt’s hosting of the 27th session of the 2022 Climate Conference is an important factor in highlighting the country’s tourism.
New actions
On the first of April, Egypt began implementing new procedures related to the entry of tourists to the country, which includes:
– Granting approval to foreigners arriving on an emergency entry visa basis, provided that they possess valid and previously used visas to enter Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Britain, and the countries of the “Schengen” zone.
-Agreeing to grant nationals of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan who are coming to the country individually (for the first time) using emergency entry visas at the ports
– Granting those coming to the ports and airports of South Sinai (who have a visit stamp to the Gulf of Aqaba and St. Catherine region) a 15-day tourist visa that allows visits to Sharm El-Sheikh, Taba, Dahab, Nuweiba, and St. Catherine for nationals of 6 countries: Turkey, Pakistan, India, China, Morocco, and Algeria.
This procedure requires submitting an arrival and return ticket, a confirmed hotel reservation, and carrying sufficient cash, including at least two thousand dollars, or the same on a credit card.
Through these measures, Egypt seeks to attract tourists from Western countries, to compensate for the absence of Russian and Ukrainian tourists due to the ongoing war.
And it announced the provision of a package of facilities to the citizens of a large number of countries, as it doubled the number of countries whose citizens are allowed to enter Egypt through electronic visa.
