Tourism Minister: The aim of these partnerships is to diversify promotion platforms, update marketing mechanisms and present Egypt in a modern way
Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Tourism, announced yesterday evening the details of the international partnerships the ministry has contracted with global promotion and marketing institutions specializing in multiple fields. These institutions include Beautiful Destinations; the global CNN network, whose partnership details the Ministry of Tourism had announced last May; the Chinese company Ctrip; the global Discovery corporation; the global Expedia Group; and Isobar.
During the conference, Jeremy Jauncey, founder of Beautiful Destinations, presented the promotional film for the “People 2 People” campaign, and said there are two other films to persuade tourists from around the world to come to Egypt, featuring engaging content and a focus on new areas to visit, adding that they have hundreds of other videos that will be released successively on various social media platforms.
He noted that work with the Ministry of Tourism has been ongoing since the beginning of this year as part of a close partnership with the ministry to promote Egypt, and that they have collected data on the target markets from the company’s databases on its social media platforms.
Jauncey said a wonderful response has been observed from travelers and content creators around the world who are excited to visit Egypt and see everything it has to offer, adding that at a time when living experiences and connecting with the local environment have become the driver of tourism, they believe Egypt is in an exceptional position, as it can maximize this enthusiasm and create distinctive experiences for people who visit it from all over the world.
In her speech, Amanda Wang, General Manager of Global Destination Marketing and Sales at China’s Ctrip Group, said China is one of the world’s largest tourism source countries, adding that tourists prefer to spend more time enjoying the local activities of the country they visit, and explaining that Cairo was the Chinese tourist’s favorite African city last year.
She pointed to the significant growth in the number of Chinese tourists who visited Egypt over the past few years, as Egypt is an attractive tourist destination given its many tourism assets and its distinctive civilization and culture. She added that the possibility of obtaining a visa on arrival has also helped increase the number of Chinese tourists, stressing that the company will cooperate more with the Ministry of Tourism to offer unique and distinctive tourism products to Chinese tourists.
Wang noted that China’s Ctrip Group holds first place in Asia as a site for hotels and airlines and ranks between first and second globally. It has offices in 100 Chinese cities, was founded in 1999, and serves more than 300 million members through 3 billion app downloads. She explained that many tourism campaigns are being launched to increase the number of Chinese traveling around the world.
Amanda Turnbull, Vice President and General Manager for the Middle East and Africa at the global “Discovery” corporation, said: “We deal with truth and entertainment at the same time,” adding that 450 contestants came to Egypt through a competition launched by the channels, and that Discovery’s channels are keen to convey many stories from Egypt to the world. She noted that the company’s expertise allows them to shed light on Egypt’s distinctive tourism and archaeological potential as part of the unprecedented entertainment programming the company offers the world.
In a related context, Myriam Younes, Director of Business Development for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India at the global Expedia Group, stressed the continuous cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism on promotional campaigns through the Expedia website in many target tourism markets in previous years, noting that the company’s latest campaign was last August in the United States.
Tarek Daouk, CEO of the Dentsu Aegis Network in the Middle East and North Africa, to which Isobar belongs, also expressed his pride in this partnership to promote Egyptian tourism and create innovative digital content for it across digital media around the world, noting that marketing Egypt in a new, non-traditional way is a vital issue, and pointing to the company’s aspiration, through this partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, to work together to win the hearts and minds of explorers around the world who are looking for their next trip.
He noted that travelers now want to live a full series of experiences while traveling, and are looking for content that inspires them, experiences that motivate them to travel, new social connections and adventures, adding that what connects the tourists who come to Egypt is gaining a special experience.
For her part, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Tourism, stressed that the ministry relies on establishing multiple partnerships to promote Egypt in a new way, which gives promotion mechanisms more flexibility by using modern marketing technologies and methods, adapting marketing content to suit each tourism market separately, helping to open new markets and making promotional campaigns more effective in target markets, in full coordination with the private tourism sector.
She explained that the aim of establishing such partnerships is to attract different segments of tourists and change the stereotypical image of Egyptian tourism before the world, to raise the competitiveness of the Egyptian tourism sector, present Egypt to the world in a modern and contemporary way, and shed more light on the diversity of Egypt’s tourist destinations, both well-known and unique, in addition to highlighting the Egyptian people’s warm reception and generous hospitality.
The minister added that all this comes in light of the promotion and marketing pillar of the structural reform program for developing the tourism sector and its three pillars: People to People, which aims to present Egypt to the world not only as a contemporary tourist destination but also to highlight the diversity of the Egyptian people; promoting each tourist governorate separately, such as Aswan, Luxor, Sahl Hasheesh, Sharm El-Sheikh and Marsa Alam; and promoting the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum.
She noted that in its promotional campaign for Egypt the ministry relies on updating promotion mechanisms through the use of modern technology and digital platforms to keep pace with the rapid changes in the tourism sector globally. Modern promotion mechanisms rely on the story and the place, not just the image, and on attracting diverse segments of followers, especially the younger generation, who now rely on these platforms, including social media, to plan their trips, as tourists are now looking to live a new experience.
The Minister of Tourism reviewed the positive assessment by many international institutions and international reports of the boom and development the sector is witnessing, as Egypt has topped the headlines of international newspapers and magazines, and many foreign media outlets have recently highlighted Egypt’s tourism and archaeological assets, including the American travel magazine Condé Nast Traveler, the global CNN network, the Trip Advisor website, the American international magazine Travel & Leisure, Time magazine, the Financial Times and Britain’s The Independent.
