Finding foreign investors, creating and promoting new resorts, entering new foreign markets, attracting high-income tourists and reforming legislation in the tourism sector are the main areas of development of Egyptian tourism, which the head of the state Rania Mashat, head of the ARE tourism department, made the announcement during the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, according to ATOR.
New destinations around which tourism will be developed include Alamein on the Mediterranean and the resorts of Ain Sokhna and Galala on the Red Sea.
"We have areas on the Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts that are not covered by mass tourism. We want to open them up to international investors," Mashat said. She added that Egypt also intends to enter the luxury tourism market to attract high-income visitors, particularly from Arab countries. To this end, several coastal areas have already been identified as potential sites for luxury resorts.
To increase investment in the sector, Egypt must radically update its legislation, which has remained unchanged since 1970. According to her, conditions must be created for investors to benefit from building not only hotels but also resort infrastructure in general, including roads, marinas, and so on.
As Rania Mashat emphasized, tourism remains a source of foreign exchange for Egypt and one of the drivers of the economy: in the first quarter of 2018, the sector's contribution to the country's GDP amounted to 15%.
She estimates that Egypt's tourism revenue will reach at least $8 billion this year, up from $7.6 billion in 2017. Mashat emphasized that bookings from foreign markets look "promising," and 2018 is expected to be "stronger" in terms of tourist growth than last year. The number of foreign tourists is projected to increase by 2013 compared to 2017, when 8.5 million foreign visitors visited Egypt.
Regarding the Russian market, Rania Mashat called the resumption of flights between Cairo and Moscow a "positive sign," which, in her opinion, will help to present "the diversity of tourism models that characterize Egypt as a tourist destination."
However, the head of the ministry reiterated that Egypt will not rely on one or a few outbound markets, lest it "become hostage to the political situation." Therefore, the ministry is working to increase traffic from Eastern European, Chinese, and Indian markets.
Source: trn-news.ru
