Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy met Italian Minister of Tourism Gianmarco Mazzi to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in tourism, as part of his current official visit to the Italian capital Rome and the city of Milan, in the presence of Ambassador Bassam Rady, Egypt's Ambassador to Italy. The visit includes a series of extensive professional meetings with industry partners, including leading tour operators and airlines operating in the Italian market, to discuss driving more inbound tourism to Egypt in the coming period from this market, one of the most important European source markets for tourism to Egypt.
During the meeting, the two sides stressed the depth of the historical relations between the two countries and the growing cooperation in various fields, praising the close relations between the political leaderships of the two countries. They also stressed the importance of building on these relations to strengthen joint tourism cooperation and increase two-way tourist traffic.
The meeting discussed the possibility of cooperating on preparing joint tourism programs combining the Egyptian and Italian destinations and promoting them in long-haul source markets. Sherif Fathy explained that tourists from these markets prefer to visit more than one destination in a single trip, creating promising opportunities to design integrated programs between the two countries, and stressed the importance of encouraging tourism companies and tour operators in both countries to cooperate in this framework to serve the common interests of both countries.
The minister pointed to the ancient history and civilization of Egypt and Italy and the cultural and human closeness between the two peoples, reviewing the indicators of inbound tourism from the Italian market to Egypt, which grew by 15% from January to the first week of June compared with the same period last year, despite regional challenges.
He reviewed the diversity of Egyptian destinations visited by Italian tourists, including coastal cities, Luxor, Aswan, El Alamein and the North Coast, expressing his expectation that this growth will continue in the coming period.
The minister also discussed the volume of tourism investment under way on the North Coast, as well as the ministry's efforts to develop the tourism and hospitality education and training system through specialized technical schools, cooperation with faculties of tourism and hotels, partnerships with international educational institutions and e-learning programs, including the EGTAP training platform launched by the ministry.
The discussion also covered examples of successful partnerships with the private sector in managing services at archaeological sites and museums, such as the Grand Egyptian Museum and the Giza Pyramids area, helping to raise the quality of services offered to visitors, stressing that preserving and maintaining antiquities is at the top of the ministry's priorities. Concluding, the minister expressed his aspiration to strengthen cooperation with the Italian side and invited his Italian counterpart to visit Egypt.
For his part, Italian minister Gianmarco Mazzi expressed his pleasure at the meeting, affirming his country's openness to all forms of cooperation with Egypt and pointing to the meetings between President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which reflect the strength of bilateral relations. He also expressed his great appreciation for Egypt, which he has visited several times, praising the greatness of ancient Egyptian civilization, which shaped many later civilizations and cultures.
He also pointed to the success of the Egyptian antiquities exhibition "Treasures of the Pharaohs" hosted in Rome as an example of fruitful cooperation between the two countries, noting that the strong turnout of Italians reflects their interest in and passion for Egyptian civilization, and stressing the growing interest of Italian tour operators and tourism companies in working in the Egyptian market.
Gianmarco Mazzi stressed his interest in strengthening cooperation in tourism education and training, praising the success of the Italian hospitality school model in Hurghada and expressing his wish to replicate the experience in Cairo in cooperation with the ministry and the private sector. Sherif Fathy welcomed this, noting that a number of suitable locations are available in Cairo that could be used to implement the project.
