Adel Zaki, chairperson of Itta Tours, said that cultural tourism in Egypt has lost 98% of the influxes to Egypt during the past six years due to the tourism decline suffered by Egypt over the past period.
Itta Tours added that the tourism sector requires a public relations company to improve the image of Egypt in the main exporting markets for tourists.
Europe represents 72% of the inbound tourism to Egypt annually, while Arab countries represent less than 20%, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
Zaki said that the spending rate for the average tourist coming to Egypt to visit the archaeological sites is €900 through a tourist programme taking five days, and less than €350 for beach tourists.
Foreigners love to visit Luxor, Aswan, and Cairo, according to Zaki. He added that the volatile political situation over the past six years led many companies to cancel flights to Egypt.
The Ministry of Tourism has contracted with the JWT company to implement the promotional campaign for Egypt in the main tourist-exporting markets for Egypt at a value of $23m per year.
Zaki said that JWT is a marketing company, not a public relations company, which requires a great campaign to change the negative image of Egypt abroad.
He added that the decreased flow of tourists to archaeological sites stopped the operations of 270 hotels in the area between Luxor and Aswan, which led to layoffs.
He predicted the improvement of the indicators during this year compared to last year, in light of Egypt’s participation in the Berlin tourist stock exchange.
