Egypt’s Tourism Minister Zoheir Garranah said that the future of the country’s tourism industry should not be looked upon in black and white terms, in an exclusive interview with Bikya Masr. He argued that despite the economic downturn taking hold, the ministry is neither “optimistic nor pessimistic†on the outlook. Bikya Masr: What does the overall tourism sector look like at this point? Minister Zoheir Garrranah: The growth that we have been witnessing for the past two years still makes me confident on the Egyptian product and in spite of the economic crisis I still think we are moving forward. I don’t want to be neither optimistic nor pessimistic about how the future looks. I think it is another cycle of a slowdown and it will rebound as soon as things start getting more clear and people will start having more confidence in their own economy because I believe there is more of a panic than a crisis. People will not stop eating; they will not stop buying; they will not stop going out; they will not stop going out, so I think it is just a matter of fear that is going around. Business will rebound before we know it. BM: So, you are not terribly worried about the situation? Mr. Garranah:No, I cannot be terribly worried, because if I am extremely worried that will cause panic in the market and this is one thing that I definitely don’t want to happen. I think we have a very solid industry. The people who work in this industry are extremely strong. We’ve witnessed a lot of crisis in the past and the people I really feel sorry for and pity are those who are experiencing this for the first time. But, 90 percent of the people who work in this industry have witnessed a lot of slowdowns before and it will take its time like any other thing and then people will tend to forget and things will be stable again. The first sector that is going to rebound is the tourism sector. BM: Can you comment on the advertising campaigns outside Egypt? Mr. Garranah: We are still doing it and we will continue doing it. What we are increasing is called our co-marketing campaigns directly with the tour operators. This is actually what we are increasing tremendously in terms of budgets and facilities. Of course, we are intensifying press trips and the educational tours. Anything that is needed to attract tourists and to be in the minds of people whenever they are going to choose which destination they are going to go to we want to be there in their minds when they choose. BM: Are there any plans to increase eco-tourism or the like? Mr. Garranah: No, but all these sectors we are already working on. BM: So, nothing special is planned in order to diversify the industry? Mr. Garranah: No, the additional things we are doing is enlarging the budget we are spending with tour operators. We are even trying to introduce better incentive programs and charter flights, especially those from countries that have never flown in charters before to Egypt. We are trying to intensify the marketing there and giving incentives in order for them to operate to Egypt. BM: This would be great for Americans. Mr. Garranah: I did that already with the Americans. In December, during the USTOA’s annual conference meeting, I was there and actually I think it was a very successful trip because the tour operators saw how the Egyptian government is committed to cooperating with them and committed to having the same flow that we used to have. BM: Are you still going to concentrate on high-end tourism more than the budget traveler? Mr. Garranah: You have to understand that when you have 211,000 hotel rooms, you tackle all the categories. What is really confident is all high-end products are running the highest occupancy in Egypt. We will definitely tackle this market in order to have more of this business and we are even encouraging investors to do that. On the other hand, we will continue doing the marketing we are used to and just generating more interest in Egypt from different categories of people, including middle-income and lower-income. BM: Sexual harassment is a major problem facing Egypt. A lot of foreign women have complained about this issue. Is the ministry doing any training in this regard? Mr. Garrranah: But, you know, whatever harassment used to take place this is purely individual acts. That does not reflect what Egypt is about or what Egyptian people are about. Definitely, we have a very large awareness campaign for this issue. We will continue doing it and it is a very long-term program. This program is not only related to how we handle or treat tourists, but also we are having training programs for ‘frontliners’ and anybody who is in direct or indirect contact with the tourists. This definitely includes shops, drivers, guides and the existing workforce. A lot of vocational training is taking place to upgrade the existing skills and understanding. BM: A number of tourists have been recently killed in traffic accidents in the country. Can you comment on any plans to address this issue? Mr. Garranah: We are actually a school that will be specialized to start with bus drivers of the tourist industry. And then we will continue on to trickle it down to all the people like truck drivers, minibuses, taxis, etc. So, actually, yes, we are embarking on those programs. Definitely, when business is slow, you have more time to think about all the positive and negative points that we had. And, since we are aware of what our priorities are, training is a major issue, because I believe that we are a service industry and it’s all about human beings and human resources. In light of this, we are intensifying all our training programs and we will continue doing so. BM
