Ghada Shalaby — Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Tourism Affairs — held meetings with South Korea's Ambassador in Cairo Hong Jin-wook and Uzbekistan's Ambassador in Cairo Tmansurbek Bakhtiyarovich Kilichev to discuss ways to increase tourism traffic from their respective countries. The meeting was held within the framework of the keenness of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to diversify the tourist markets exporting tourism to the Egyptian destination. During her meeting with Hong, the deputy minister stressed the distinguished relations between Egypt and South Korea and pointed out that the path of the Holy Family in Egypt is one of the most important tourist attractions that draw in the Korean tourist due to Korean tourists' passion for spiritual tourism. They also discussed the possibility of inviting a number of celebrities, influencers, and bloggers from South Korea to visit Egypt and present their experience there to their followers, as well as inviting tourism companies operating in the Korean market to discuss the best mechanisms for promoting the Egyptian tourist destination in South Korea. For his part, the Korean ambassador stressed that Egypt is the world's gateway to the Middle East and Africa, praising tourists' sense of safety in Egypt and the great development witnessed by the tourism sector in recent times. Later on, in her meeting with the Ambassador of Uzbekistan, Shalaby emphasised the distinguished relations that bring together Egypt and Uzbekistan in many fields and stressed the interest of the ministry in the Uzbek market, as it is promising, especially in light of the presence of direct airlines between the two countries. For his part, the Uzbek ambassador referred to the cooperative relations and friendship between the two countries, stressing that there are great opportunities for cooperation in the field of tourism, especially since the Uzbek tourist is a fan of beach tourism, which Egypt can so readily accommodate. At the end of the meeting, it was agreed to hold a meeting between the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities and her Uzbek counterpart in the presence of the ambassadors of the Egyptian and Uzbek sides to discuss visions and proposals to increase tourism between the two countries. This meeting will be followed by one that brings together representatives of the Egyptian private tourism sector and its Uzbek counterpart.
