Chairman of the Tourism Activation Authority Sami Mahmoud stated the authority plans to organise a tourist convoy of three countries in central Asia including Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan by the end of May.
The Ministry of Tourism plans to increase its marketing campaigns in several emerging markets for the countries of central Asia, Europe, and north-west Africa. It was agreed with the Aviation Association to examine the conduct of flights to these areas in collaboration with the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Mahmoud believes the new markets in Asia and Europe recorded significant passenger numbers worldwide owing to the income growth in these countries during the recent period. The trend to new markets does not mean abandoning existing markets that represent Egypt’s largest influx of tourists.
European convoys to Egypt represent 72% of total number of tourists visiting Egypt annually. Despite the 23% decline in Russian tourists in 2015 compared to 2014, the number of Russian tourists in Egypt last year exceeded that of every other country.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, 2.3 million Russian tourists visited Egypt in 2015 compared to 3.1 million in 2014. The number of tourists from Britain fell by 4% in 2015 down to 870,000.
British airlines will resume flights to Sharm El-Sheikh by the end of May, which will help to recover the tourism sector, Mahmoud said. Britain had suspended flights to Egypt last November following the Russian plane crash on 31 October 2015.
Tourism income to Egypt during the last year declined to $6.1bn versus $7.3bn the previous year. Mahmoud claimed the authority will reveal a public relations campaign with major international tourism companies for the coming period. This will be in preparation of Control Risks releasing their results in April for the security procedures review; the British authority assessed Marsa Alam and Sharm El-Sheikh airports.
