Turkish-Egyptian Businessmen Association: Turkish industrial investments boost conference tourism between the two countries
By Akram Medhat
Atilla Atasever, head of the Turkish-Egyptian Businessmen Association (TUMIAD), announced that the joint Egyptian-Turkish economic conference will be held under the slogan "Let's Manufacture Together" in the Turkish cities of Istanbul and Konya for the first time, from November 26 to December 1, noting that preparations are under way for a joint Turkish-Egyptian tourism conference to be held in Turkey early next year.
The conference aims to revive cooperation in all available economic fields, to the benefit of the economies of both countries, by creating new industrial and investment opportunities between the two sides in various investment fields. The conference coincides with the Egyptian government's drive to deepen local industry, increase local production and work to double exports.
The head of the Turkish-Egyptian Businessmen Association stressed, during a press conference held yesterday to announce the details of the joint Egyptian-Turkish economic conference, that Turkey is one of the main outbound tourist destinations for Egyptians, who have never stopped going there, in addition to the continued flow of Turkish tourism to Egypt. Indeed, Turkish airports are considered a main transit hub for inbound tourist trips to Egypt from Europe or South America, which have no direct flights to Egypt.
He said the volume of Egyptian tourist flow to Turkey in 2015 reached 100,000 tourists, compared with about 112,000 Egyptian tourists in 2012, while 2011 was the lowest year in terms of Egyptian tourist flow to Turkey, at 80,000 tourists, but he did not announce the volume of Egyptian tourist flow in 2016.
Atasever explained that the flow of Turkish investments into Egypt through industry, and the exchange of visits and meetings between Egyptian and Turkish businessmen, are a strong start for reviving conference and business tourism in both countries, noting that Cairo hosted the "Turkish-Egyptian Business Forum" in January 2017, and that Istanbul is scheduled to host the first joint economic conference.
He pointed to the role of Turkish tour companies in bringing huge numbers of Russian tourists to Egypt, which reached one million tourists of the total volume of Russian tourism to Egypt.
He revealed that a conference on religious tourism in Egypt will be organized in the near future, and that Egypt will be placed among the main stops on Turkish Hajj and Umrah trips, which depart in large numbers, so that Turks can make the most of their long journey by visiting famous religious tourism sites in Egypt after returning from performing the Hajj or Umrah rituals in Saudi Arabia.
Turkish Tourism in Egypt
Turkish tourism to Egypt is one of the emerging markets, as it does not generate large numbers; 2015 saw the arrival of about 37,000 Turkish tourists, and arrivals fell 30% in 2016 to 26,000 tourists.
According to tourism statistics obtained exclusively by Travel Yalla News, Turkish tourism to Egypt recorded about 27,000 tourist arrivals between January and the end of October 2017, up 25% from the same period last year, who spent 256,000 tourist nights, an increase of 175%.
