Egypt’s Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Tourism Affairs Ghada Shalaby has received the Ambassador and Consul of Belarus in Cairo and their accompanying delegation.
The team included a number of representatives from Belarus’ Ministries of Tourism, Sports, Transport, and Aviation.
The visit was organised by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, represented by the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board (ETPB), to work on attracting more tourist traffic from Belarus.
The meeting was attended by Counsellor Abdel Mohsen Shafi’i, supervisor of the Ministry’s Central Administration for Public and International Relations, and ETPB representatives.
During the meeting, the Belarusian delegation members stressed that Egypt has many diverse tourism components that can be highlighted and focused on by tourists from their country. The most important aspects of this diversity are cultural tourism and ecotourism, they noted.
They also expressed their happiness with this visit and their admiration for the tourist and archaeological sites they visited, including the Giza Pyramids, the Egyptian Museum at Cairo’s Tahrir Square, and Khan El-Khalili.
For her part, Shalaby said the Belarusian market is one of Egypt’s promising tourist markets, which the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities is keen to attract more tourist traffic from.
The ministry is also set to support continuous relations, with Shalaby referring to its efforts to promote Egypt as a destination in Belarus. This is with the aim of introducing the Belarusian tourist to the rich and unique diversity which is enjoyed by the Egyptian tourist destination.
She said that Egyptian tourism is steadily working towards achieving higher rates, and is had remarkable success in containing the repercussions of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Shalaby spoke about the facilities provided by the Egyptian state to support the tourism sector so that it can meet the current challenges.
She also reviewed the precautionary measures and health and safety controls that are being applied in all tourist and hotel facilities, museums, and archaeological sites across the country. She added that the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has designated a hotline to receive all issues related to tourism, which can be contacted on 19654.
Shalaby supported adding different styles of promoting the Egyptian destination, besides beach tourism, when promoting Egypt in Belarus.
She also asked the members of the Belarusian delegation to nominate the most important bloggers and influencers to be invited to visit Egypt, and to visit the country’s tourist and archaeological sites.
They would then be able to transfer this experience to their followers, through their personal pages on social media.
During the meeting, a proposal was also made to exchange experiences between the two sides in the field of ecotourism.
