Bid to increase tourism from Italy

Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa held meetings on Thursday in Rome with the heads of major Italian tourism companies to push for more tourist traffic coming to Egypt from the Italian market.

Issa reviewed the state’s efforts in the tourism sector and what it currently offers in the way of unprecedented incentives and advantages for tour companies and visitors. He also highlighted the success of the amendments to the aviation incentive programme and co-operation with the Ministry of Civil Aviation in increasing the number of charter and regular flights from European and Egyptian cities.

“Italy is one of the most important countries from which tourists flock to Egypt, especially in the resorts on the Red Sea,” he said.

He added that the ministry is working on promoting new tourist destinations including Cairo, with its historical and Fatimid-era sites, coinciding with the upcoming opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza.
The minister added that airlines can now also benefit from co-marketing campaigns that were previously only available to tour operators.

“The aim of implementing this type of agreement with airlines and airports is to increase flights to all destinations in Egypt,” Issa said.

The meetings were held at the headquarters of the Egyptian Embassy in Rome and attended by Italian media.
Ambassador of Egypt to Italy Bassam Rady said that the tourism sector is considered one of the most important sectors in the Egyptian-Italian relations, given the great Italian passion for Egyptian tourist resorts on the Red Sea coast.

“Tourism in Egypt is witnessing a current recovery and an increase in activity,” Rady said.

“It would not have been possible without the huge qualitative leap in the field of infrastructure, including advanced airports and ports, a network of roads and national axes, which added about 8,000 km of roads. The new one has the latest specifications to facilitate movement and mobility throughout the Egyptian country,” he added.

In addition to modern means of transport, foremost of which is the high-speed train, which will connect Cairo to Aswan in a 5-hour journey instead of 14 hours, he added.

“It also connects Hurghada to Abu Simbel, the resorts and port of Sokhna on the Red Sea to New Alamein and Matrouh, passing through Cairo and the New Administrative Capital.”