The Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority is taking part in the ITB China international travel exhibition, which kicked off today in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, and runs until May 29 this month.
Sherif Fathy, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, stressed the importance of participating in international tourism exhibitions in various tourism markets, particularly target markets, as this contributes to greater promotion of the Egyptian tourist destination and its diverse products. It is also an opportunity to meet decision-makers, tour operators and tourism officials from various countries and to strengthen tourism cooperation between Egypt and these countries, in line with the ministry's strategy to highlight the tourism diversity of the Egyptian destination and diversify tourism markets.
The Egyptian pavilion was opened by Consul Mohamed Raslan, Egypt's Consul in Shanghai, and Eng. Ahmed Youssef, Acting CEO of the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority, in the presence of Eng. Abdel Halim Yehia, member of the Authority's General Department of Exhibitions and Events, and Basma Ezzat, head of the China desk at the Authority's General Department of Foreign Offices.
For his part, Ahmed Youssef pointed to the Authority's keenness to participate in this important tourism exhibition, especially as the Chinese market is one of the target tourism markets, with the number of Chinese tourists arriving in Egypt increasing by more than 60% in 2024 compared with 2023. He added that the exhibition is an opportunity to work on attracting more Chinese tourist traffic to Egypt and to shed light on its diverse tourism assets, products and types, the most prominent developments in the tourism industry and the Egyptian state's efforts to develop and advance it, as well as to keep up with developments in the Chinese market and the requirements of Chinese tourists.
He pointed to the promotion of the Grand Egyptian Museum and its anticipated opening through a full-page advertisement in the exhibition catalogue distributed to all participants, an announcement on the exhibition's online platform, and a booked advertising space placed at the exhibition entrance.
On the first day of the exhibition, Eng. Ahmed Youssef took part in an event titled C-Talks, which includes panel discussions bringing together CEOs and senior managers from leading travel agencies in China and tourism industry decision-makers from around the world, to discuss opportunities and strategies for the Chinese travel market.
He also held several professional meetings, most notably with officials of Ctrip, China's largest multilingual travel services platform, and representatives of a number of major marketing companies in the Chinese market and companies specializing in social media marketing that keep pace with digital transformation in the tourism sector, to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in promoting the Egyptian tourist destination in the Chinese market, in addition to meetings with officials from a number of major airlines to discuss joint cooperation mechanisms to attract more Chinese tourists to Egypt.
He also held a number of media interviews with representatives of leading Chinese media outlets, during which he spoke about the Authority's promotional plan in the Chinese market through a variety of popular Chinese digital platforms, using different types of advertising to reach target groups. Various tools were also used to ensure reach to a wide audience and achieve tangible results, including the WeChat and Ctrip platforms, in addition to promotional activities such as joint campaigns, familiarization trips and participation in tourism exhibitions.
The Authority is taking part in this year's exhibition with a 117-square-meter pavilion featuring 15 exhibitors representing Egyptian hotels and tourism companies. More than 700 exhibitors representing more than 90 countries are taking part in ITB China.
