Last year's terrorist attacks failed to derail the tourist industry, which grew from strength to strength. Rehab Saad speaks with Ahmed El-Khadem, head of the Egyptian Tourist Authority, about his plans for 2006 "Yes, we were expecting more tourists but given the circumstances through which Egyptian tourism passed last year we are satisfied overall," said Ahmed El-Khadem, head of the Egyptian Tourist Authority (ETA) in an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly. In 2005, 8.5 million tourists arrived in Egypt and between them spent 90 million tourist nights. "We had expected that the figure for 2005 would be higher and had anticipated nine million tourists. But then you have to take into account five serious incidents that had a very negative impact. They began in February when a Hungarian tourist was stabbed in Khan Al-Khalili and ended with the Sharm El-Sheikh bombings in July," he said. "The Sharm bombings," concedes El-Khadem, "were particularly devastating." "In 2004," he continued, "the industry grew unusually fast, with Egypt attracting eight million tourists. After such an increase what tends to happen is that you consolidate the growth, and the figures remain fairly constant for a year or two. You don't expect a 15 per cent increase in the visitor numbers year on year." While El-Khadem admits that the fall out from the Sharm bombings had a negative impact on the second half of 2005 the good news is that things are moving back to normal. He predicts that by February the majority of markets will be performing at their normal levels, with the possible exception of the Italian market, the most seriously affected by the Sharm El-Sheikh bombings. In recent years Italy has topped visitor league tables. Prior to the Sinai attacks a million Italians had visited Egypt during the 2005 season, with the majority staying in Sharm El-Sheikh. But the decline in the number of Italian tourists cannot wholly be blamed on July's terrorist attacks. "The difficulties we are encountering in the Italian market," says El-Khadem, "are also a result of the downturn in the Italian economy. Italian outbound travel overall is down by almost 13 per cent because of economic situation." El-Khadem is far from nonplused by shifts in the market. "In 2005 we witnessed good movement from Russia, the UK, Germany, Scandinavia and Arab countries, which have improved considerably in terms of tourist numbers. There is improvement in many markets." Alongside its traditional markets Egypt is currently seeking to open new, potentially lucrative ones, including India and China. "India and China," he believes, "will become increasingly important sources for international tourism in the next 20 years. It is very important for us to establish ourselves within these markets." It is estimated that by 2020 150 million Chinese tourists will travel overseas annually, while India will be sending 100 million travelers. "Imagine the number that we could attract to Egypt given the fact that we have excellent relations with both countries," says El-Khadem enthusiastically. The new Chinese and Indian tourists are unlikely to be in search of sun, sand and sea. El-Khadem anticipates "they will be looking for cultural, as well as shopping, tourism and these are the most profitable kinds. Though maybe 10 years from now, when we have enough numbers from these markets, we might also extend our existing resorts." Promoting Egypt abroad is the one of the ETA's biggest tasks, and it is currently overhauling its entire advertising strategy. "In the past we were using nine companies to handle advertising campaigns in different countries. It was expensive, far from cost effective, and led to inconsistency in the message being promoted in the markets where the advertising agents were operating. After reviewing the situation we decided to place the campaign in the hands of a single agency." The contract was won by London-based DDB International, one of world's largest multinational media agencies, who will now handle the $40 million a year international campaign. In addition to seeking to attract growing numbers of foreign tourists, El-Khadem also hopes to see the internal market expand. This year will mark the start of a local tourist campaign as well as a five-year national tourist awareness project funded by the European Union. "The project has three main components. First there is the awareness campaign, which will drive home the importance of tourism and the necessity of behaving in a positive and friendly manner towards tourists." The second and third parts involve training of groups of workers that come into contact with tourists, including immigration officers, airport staff, taxi drivers, shop workers etc, and of those, such as restaurant workers and tourist bus drivers, directly employed within the tourism sector. The changes in Egypt's promotional priorities and its attempts to open new markets have led to the opening of some new tourist offices abroad and the relocation of others. "Our office in Seoul closed last April, when operations were moved to Bombay. And we are now considering moving one of our European offices to Istanbul, as well as reopening the office in Los Angeles and establishing a new office in Brazil." El-Khadem sees regional cooperation as one of the most important channels for attracting more tourists to Egypt, though the meeting held in Hurghada last summer between the tourism ministries of Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Israel was criticised by some as a kind of backdoor normalisation process. El-Khadem defends the meeting, stressing that its aim was to formulate regional strategies to promote all the participating countries in long haul markets such as North and South America and the Far East. "As increasing oil prices inflate the cost of air travel there is a trend among tourists coming from long haul markets to combine more than one country on their itinerary. The Middle East is one of those destinations that can represent itself as an excellent choice for such combined holidays." Hence the meeting, which discussed available air routes from long haul markets, tourist office representation and ways in which private sector companies might cooperate in producing packages and programmes. The meeting was originally scheduled quarterly but following the Hurghada gathering has yet to be repeated. So is the region ready for such collaboration given the ongoing conflict in the occupied territories, the Israeli atrocities and terrorist attacks against tourists in Egypt and Jordan? "Gradually yes," says El-Khadem. "We are already collaborating with Greece, Cyprus and Turkey and there is no reason why we cannot collaborate with other countries in the region." But is Egypt capable of attracting ever more travelers? Are promotional campaigns abroad successful in pulling in more tourists to the land of the Pharaohs or has saturation coverage jaded the tourist palette, as people search for ever more exotic locations? "It is true," says El-Khadem, "that Egypt is no longer regarded as a novelty. It is an established tourist destination and perhaps not sufficiently enticing to attract the attention of travel writers who are searching for more remote, unheard of or undiscovered destinations with which to tempt their readers." But Egypt, he continues, remains the number one tourist destination in the Middle East and the East Mediterranean as far as the number of arrivals and tourist nights are concerned. Egypt also tops the regional tables in terms of tourist revenue, which last year reached $7 billion. That very success, though, contains an element of danger. That tourism is such an important part of Egypt's economy makes it a target for those determined to disrupt the economy. "Tourism is a very sensitive sector and, of course, any negative incidents can have serious political and social repercussions which is why some terrorist groups target tourism. This is something of which today's travelers are aware and increasingly people are refusing to allow fanatics to dictate their lives. Instead, they continue with their travel plans," argues El-Khadem.
