By Akram Medhat
The Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority is hosting the head of the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA), Tadashi Shimura, and the official and media delegation accompanying him, which includes 10 representatives of JATA and Japanese tourism companies and 3 journalists representing the most famous Japanese newspapers and magazines, from February 2 to 7.
For his part, Ahmed Youssef, head of the authority, stressed the importance of this visit given its positive impact on attracting more inbound tourist traffic from the Japanese market to Egypt, especially as it is one of the important tourism markets. He added that Japanese tourists are distinguished by their high spending rate and long stays, as well as their passion and interest in Egyptian civilization and antiquities, which helps promote the cultural tourism product, noting the importance of increasing the number of EgyptAir flights from this important market.
Youssef explained that during the visit, the authority will showcase the diverse types of tourism in Egyptian cities that attract Japanese tourists, noting that a familiarization trip is scheduled for the head of JATA and his accompanying delegation to visit some tourist and archaeological sites, including Luxor, Cairo, Alexandria, Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada.
According to tourism statistics obtained exclusively by Travel Yalla News, Japanese tourism to Egypt recorded 18,000 arrivals in the first half of 2018, a slight increase of 3%, almost stable, compared to the same period in 2017. They spent 135,000 tourist nights, up 25%.
In 2017, Japanese tourism achieved a notable recovery with about 33,000 arrivals, up 76% from 2016, recording the highest growth rate in traffic among Asian countries, and they spent 214,000 tourist nights, up 97%.
