The Ministry of Tourism will sign a quartet protocol with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Private Aviation Association, and the tourism private sector in the next few days to support the direction of trips to three new markets.
Senior tourist sources said the Ministry of Tourism plans to support trips organised by private aviation companies to the new markets that EgyptAir does not support. This is in the framework of a joint action strategy with the Ministry of Aviation and the Association of Private Aviation as well as private sector tourist companies.
The ministry requested private tourism companies implement market studies on three markets and then, as per the experience evaluation, there will be an expansion to two more markets later on. The initial three suggested markets are North Africa, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe.
The sources expected that flights and trips will commence before June. “The plan aims to keep Egypt on the world tourism map in light of the recent warnings by some countries, as well as supporting Egyptian national companies, and market diversification,” the source said.
The UK and Russia both suspended trips to Egypt on 1 November due to the Russian plane crash on 31 October 2015. The ban led the Ministry of Tourism to develop an action for greater presence in new markets as well as traditional markets, whether in Europe, Asia, or Africa.
Tourism income to Egypt declined to $6.1bn in 2015 from $7.3bn in 2014.
“The goal of the protocol is to coordinate the four parties to serve Egyptian tourism and increase the flow to new markets,” Head of Business Aviation Association Yousry Abdel Wahab told Daily News Egypt exclusively. “The protocol includes all private airlines that are effectively operating and have between 30 and 35 aircraft as well as governmental aviation companies will fly to these markets based on the marketing studies.”
He said Egyptian private airlines will implement the programme when prices amount to €400 per seat. Private aviation is waiting to obtain permission from the Civil Aviation Authority to allow these companies to organise trips to the new markets.
