By Akram Medhat
Hesham El-Demery, head of the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority, announced that the promotional campaign for Egypt in the Italian market was launched today on 13 local Italian television channels, including Rai and Mediaset channels, adding that it is scheduled to run for three weeks, followed by an online campaign on various social media sites.
El-Demery explained that there has been a 60% increase in the number of tourists from Italy during the first four months of 2017 compared with last year, and there are indications of growth in tourism from Italy to Egypt during the current summer season, especially to Sharm El-Sheikh and Marsa Alam.
In a related context, the head of the Tourism Promotion Authority spoke of the launch of the promotional campaign for Egypt in the Arab market the day before yesterday, which is scheduled to continue throughout the month of Ramadan until Eid al-Fitr.
He added that the campaign targets several Arab countries, namely Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon and Jordan, to encourage Arabs and foreigners living in the Gulf states to visit Egypt and discover Egyptian tourist destinations, which are highly diverse and can satisfy all tastes as they offer various types of tourism, including cultural, leisure, beach, sports, safari and adventure, and conference tourism.
He noted that the campaign uses all modern and traditional promotional means to attract more Arab tourists during holiday seasons and vacations. It is being launched on high-viewership channels such as MBC, Rotana Khalijia and Dubai, and across various social media pages, and the promotional campaign will also be launched in a number of the largest and best-known shopping malls and in public squares in the main cities of the target markets.
El-Demery pointed out that the Arab market is one of Egypt's main markets, and the Arab tourist has the highest average spending compared with other countries, noting that Arab tourism achieved its highest rates in the first four months of 2017 compared with the last seven years, more than 30% higher than in 2010.
Separately, El-Demery said the authority has a plan to move into several European markets after the holy month of Ramadan, through a public relations campaign aimed at improving Egypt's image and affirming the readiness of the Egyptian tourist destination to receive visitors from all over the world.
He added that coordination has taken place with Egypt's tourism counselor in Germany, who also oversees the Polish market, to begin some promotional activities and tourism events in the Polish market by communicating with the press, media and tour operators there, as the Polish market is one of the most important source markets for tourism to Egypt.
He revealed that the authority has contracted an extensive advertising campaign to improve Egypt's image and promote the Egyptian tourist destination, starting June 1, on high-viewership international channels such as CNN, National Geographic and Eurosport.
