Mr Hesham Zazou, Egyptian Minister of Tourism, has stated that in 2010 the Egyptian tourism sector witnessed high turnout of the European tourism, up 76%, due to the near distance between Europe and Egypt. In his interview with "Al Shaab Yoreed (People Want)" talk show, said the ministry focuses on the states that improve their conditions in Western Europe like Russia, which represents 2 million tourists to Egypt. The minister has elaborated that there are problems in expanding in the new markets; particularly in Latin America as Brazil and Argentina. These problems are because there is no direct flights between Egypt and Latin America as well South West Asia. But there are studies for attracting those tourists. Zazou confirmed that there are studies that aim at opening new markets, in cooperation with the Turkish airlines. During 2012, the occupancy rates reached 74% in Red Sea, 60% in South Sinai, 30% in Cairo and Luxor and 16% in Aswan. The ministry has 255 thousand chambers that are operating, while 280 chambers are under construction. It also aims at improving the quality in many hotels to raise the tourism prices. In the coming days, the ministry will announce the company specialized in advertising, as well the reactivation plan with $ 40 million budget. Zazou added that the tourism chambers and the Federation of Egyptian Banks (FEB), are supposed to have a meeting on 6th February to inject liquidity for reviving tourism.
