Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Tourism, met with Raghu Malhotra, President of Mastercard for the Middle East and Africa, and a number of the company’s officials in Egypt, to present ways of cooperation, especially in data analysis and digital transformation, and to offer new innovative ideas for developing the tourism sector and promoting Egyptian tourism using digital platforms and applications.
Al-Mashat stressed the importance of technological innovation and digital solutions in boosting the competitiveness of the tourism sector and making it more modern. She added that they have become an urgent necessity for achieving a sustainable tourism sector, and are also an essential part of the fifth pillar of the structural reform program for developing the sector, which aims to focus on developing green tourism, preserving the environment and digital transformation.
For his part, the President of Mastercard for the Middle East and Africa expressed his company’s great interest in being part of the development the tourism sector in Egypt is witnessing, explaining that this meeting is the beginning of many meetings to be held with business partners in the tourism sector to discuss ways of cooperation and promote Egypt’s various and diverse tourism products.
He proposed the possibility of creating an app in Egypt, in cooperation with the ministry, that would give tourists all the information and services they need upon arrival, to ease the tourist’s trip and enrich their experience in Egypt.
The minister spoke about the promotion and marketing pillar and updating its mechanisms to keep pace with modern global trends, presenting Egypt to the world not only as a contemporary tourist destination but also highlighting the diversity of the Egyptian people, and creating a unique tourism experience for tourists.
She noted that the ministry relies on modern technology and digital platforms in its promotional campaign for Egypt, to keep pace with the rapid changes in this field, and reviewed the campaign’s main pillars: People to People, Branding by Destination and GEM 2020.
The meeting addressed the importance of statistics and analytics, which are among the essential elements needed in promotion, to provide a comprehensive view of the interests of tourists who wish to visit Egypt from the moment they think about the visit, what their search preferences show, the seasons in which they prefer to visit the country, and the different spending segments.
Company officials gave a presentation on its expertise in data analysis and marketing, and reviewed some ideas on their comprehensive vision of ways to collect data on tourists from when they are considering travel until after their return.
The President of Mastercard for the Middle East and Africa noted that the company has a broad platform and great expertise in data analysis, as it holds information on tourists’ data, their interests while traveling and their spending rates. He reviewed the company’s experiences in London and Dubai, noting that the company had launched tourism apps for the two cities, Visit London and Expo Dubai.
