Germany's DER Touristik Holds Its Conference in Hurghada, Affirming Egypt Is a Comprehensive Tourist Destination

By Akram Medhat

Germany's DER Touristik has chosen Egypt to hold its annual conference in the city of Hurghada on the Red Sea coast for the first time. The conference, which began its work today, was awarded to Egypt after competition with Spain and Turkey, where it was held over the past two years, and the company considered Egypt a comprehensive destination for all types of tourism products.

For his part, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Abdullah, Governor of the Red Sea, stressed in his speech that the state pays great attention to the tourism sector as one of the most important fields for providing job opportunities, noting that from this standpoint all state bodies are cooperating to ensure a unique experience for tourists in Egypt by focusing on upgrading infrastructure in all Egyptian cities.

He stressed that this meeting will bear fruit globally and will be promoted through German and international media, noting that holding such conferences confirms the state of safety and security the country is witnessing, given its positive impact on inbound tourism from the countries in which DER Touristik operates.

He revealed that Red Sea Governorate is currently working on doubling the 320-km "Safaga–Marsa Alam" road at a cost of 100 million dollars, and a high-voltage electricity network is currently being built, along with the construction of "Berenice" airport south of Marsa Alam to serve hotels and tourist resorts and increase inbound tourism to Red Sea Governorate, pointing out that the governorate has the best and most famous tourist areas and tourist establishments, which tourists enjoy in fresh air.

He explained the governorate's orientation toward relying on clean energy, generating electricity from wind and solar power, to preserve the environment and prevent emissions, noting that the governorate has announced the "No to Plastic" initiative, scheduled to be applied as of the beginning of next June, with the aim of protecting wildlife and marine life and preserving endangered species that have been severely affected by plastic, whether through ingestion, suffocation, drowning or poisoning from plastic waste, which in turn affects human health.

In her speech at the conference, Nora Ali, Chairwoman of Masters Travel Service, one of the German DER Touristik companies, said DER Touristik's business volume reached 8 billion euros, expressing her happiness at the choice of Hurghada this year and the acceptance of her invitations.

She added that the German market is one of the most important source markets for inbound tourism to Egypt, noting that the number of German tourists reached 1.7 million in 2018, and expected this year to see a notable increase in light of the stability of conditions and the improvement of tourism traffic in general.

She revealed that the company has strategic plans to expand investments in the Red Sea cities, especially in hotels, in the coming period.

In a related context, Sören Hartmann, CEO of Germany's DER Touristik Group, said that choosing the Egyptian tourist destination to host the group's annual conference reflects its importance to German tourists, especially the Red Sea region, which abounds with tourism potential unmatched by any other destination.

He added that Egypt is a comprehensive tourist destination for all types of tourism products, whether family, beach, leisure, cultural, sports or honeymoon tourism, making it the most suitable place to spend holidays.

He pointed out that the DER Touristik Group succeeded last year in attracting 7 million tourists who visited a number of tourist destinations, with the company's sales reaching 61 billion dollars, noting that the group has 360,000 employees and 10,000 subsidiaries worldwide.

Hartmann continued that the group aims to increase sales volume by 40% and achieve revenues of 100 billion dollars by 2021, in light of the continued improvement in the global growth index for the tourism sector.

Lionel Souque, CEO of the REWE Group, which owns DER Touristik, said the company achieved great success last year amid a number of challenges facing countries around the world, whether economic or political, noting the group's aspiration to open new markets in the Middle East region and expand its business in Egypt.

He added that for the first time in the company's history it achieved external sales of more than 60 billion euros in the last fiscal year, 2018, and revenues rose by 4.7% to 61.2 billion euros.