Eng. Ahmed Youssef, head of the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority, today opened the Egyptian pavilion participating in TTG Incontri, held in the Italian city of Rimini from October 9 to 11 this month, with the participation of Ambassador Hisham Badr, Egypt's ambassador in Rome, and Emad Fathy, Director General of International Tourism at the authority.
Youssef stressed the importance of this exhibition as one of the most important annual international professional tourism events, adding that the Italian market is one of the most important European tourism markets for Egypt, as Italy has returned to the list of the top ten countries sending tourists to Egypt, especially after the operation of regular and charter flights from Milan, Verona, Bologna, Rome, Naples and Bari to Egyptian tourist destinations, especially Sharm El-Sheikh and Marsa Alam.
This year Egypt is taking part in the exhibition with a 100-square-meter pavilion that includes representatives of the tourism companies, hotel and aviation sectors. The pavilion was designed in the shape of a pharaonic temple and equipped with the latest technology, with display screens set up for Egypt's promotional materials. During the exhibition, the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum at the end of 2020, one of the main pillars of Egypt's promotional campaign, is being promoted.
On the sidelines of the exhibition, the head of the Tourism Promotion Authority met the Director General of the Italian Association of Tour Operators (ASTOI), Flavia Franceschini, who stressed during the meeting that Egypt, especially the Red Sea cities, was at the top of the tourist destinations that saw high demand last summer through Italian tourists' bookings with tourism companies, noting that the current winter season in Egypt is promising, especially classic trips to Luxor and Aswan and Nile cruises.
The head of the authority also held meetings with a number of major tour operators such as Alpitour, Eden Viaggi, Veratour and TUI Italia, during which he reviewed the new rules for joint promotional campaigns, and also spoke about the new aviation stimulus program, which has been in effect from November 2018 until April 2020.
During the meeting, the tour operators expressed their happiness at the return of tourist demand for Egypt, especially Marsa Alam and Sharm El-Sheikh.
Eng. Ahmed Youssef gave a number of interviews to Italian media, during which he reviewed Egypt's promotional plan, pointing out that the ministry's plan for promotion and marketing relies on the use of modern technology, updating the mechanisms for promoting Egypt and diversifying promotion platforms to present a contemporary and non-stereotypical image of Egypt.
He pointed to the Ministry of Tourism's international partnerships with global promotion and marketing institutions specialized in multiple fields, including the global CNN network and the global Discovery, in addition to the ministry's cooperation with the Italian Mediaset group of channels, which resulted in the filming of 25 episodes on the secrets of ancient Egyptian civilization, noting that these episodes are being shown on Italian television during October this month and next November on the channels Italia 1 and Focus.
It is worth noting that the Rimini tourism exhibition brings together Italian tour operators and travel agents, as well as representatives of tourism federations and a number of senior media representatives, and is attended by about 45,000 professional visitors specialized in the tourism sector, who meet 2,480 exhibitors from 130 countries representing the tourism and hotel sectors and related sectors.
