Annual conference of German travel agencies association RTK opens in Hurghada with 450 travel agents
Fathy meets the director of strategy and business development at Raiffeisen Touristik Group, the association's CEO and a number of its members
Sherif Fathy, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, today took part in the opening of the annual conference of RTK, the association of German travel agencies and offices, being held in Hurghada on the Red Sea from November 20 to 24 this month. The conference is organized by the association, German tour operator Coral Travel Ferien Touristik and Odeon, in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities represented by the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority, under the title "RTK Dialogtag", with the participation of 450 travel agents.
The Minister of Tourism held a meeting with Thomas Bösl, director of strategy and business development at Raiffeisen Touristik Group (RTG), Hauke Moll, CEO of the association, and a number of its members to discuss strengthening cooperation in areas of mutual interest in the coming period.
During the meeting, Fathy expressed his pleasure at taking part in the opening of the conference, pointing to the important position the German market holds for Egyptian tourism, with inbound tourist traffic from it seeing notable growth this year. The number of German tourists who visited Egypt from the beginning of 2025 until the end of October reached 1.5 million, and the figure is expected to exceed 1.7 million by the end of the current year.
He also stressed the major role played by the RTK association and its partners in supporting inbound tourism to Egypt, and the pursuit of strengthening this cooperation in the interest of all parties.
Fathy added that tourism is, at its core, a culture of movement and communication between peoples, and that Egypt is keen to provide a diverse and rich tourism experience that meets the expectations of German tourists, whose confidence in the Egyptian destination is highly valued.
During the meeting, the unique diversity of the Egyptian destination's unparalleled types of tourism and tourism products, which cater to the interests and tastes of different tourists, was reviewed, along with the ministry's efforts to develop these products and types.
The minister also spoke about the major development of Egypt's infrastructure, including roads, railways, airports and ports, which enhances connectivity between different tourist destinations and helps improve the tourist experience.
For his part, Thomas Bösl expressed his pleasure at being in Hurghada and at the minister's participation in the opening of the conference, saying he would remember this visit for the rest of his life and that Egypt is an important tourism partner for RTK. He stressed the association's keenness to encourage German tourists to discover the diverse experiences the Egyptian destination offers, which are not limited to beach tourism but also include cultural tourism, which many of its clients prefer.
Following the meeting, the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities toured the trade exhibition held as part of the conference, accompanied by the director of strategy and business development at Raiffeisen Touristik Group (RTG) and the association's CEO. He visited the stands of the 50 exhibitors and met a number of representatives of participating companies, listening to their future plans and their vision for strengthening cooperation with the Egyptian market, as well as their proposals for attracting more German tourists to the Egyptian destination.
The meeting and the tour were attended by Rana Gohar, Adviser to the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Communication and External Relations and General Supervisor of the ministry's General Department of International Relations and Agreements; Mohamed Mohsen, Director General of Foreign Offices at the Central Department of Tourist Offices at the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority; and Ahmed Nabil, Assistant Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Aviation and Follow-up.
It is worth noting that the conference is an opportunity to introduce participants to the Egyptian tourist destination and its recent developments, as well as to highlight the diversity of tourism products and the features of the Egyptian destination that can be leveraged in RTK's sales operations, especially as it is one of the largest and most important associations of sales offices in the German market, with more than 3,000 offices and sales agents. It also has around 1,200 sales offices in the French market, and the association's member companies are able to attract tourists from various European countries, not just Germany.
