The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities — represented by the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board (ETPB) — participated in the TTG Rimini Tourism Fair, which was held in Rimini, Italy, from 12 to 14 October. This exhibition is considered one of the most important professional international tourism exhibitions specialised in the Italian tourism market in which Italian and international tourism companies participate. The ministry participated with a pavilion with an area of 96 sqm that housed a number of Egyptian hotels and tourism companies. The official opening of the exhibition was attended by CEO of the ETPB Amr Al-Kady, Tourist Attaché at the Egyptian Tourist Office in Germany Mohamed Farag, along with several representatives from various companies and governments around the world. Al-Kady explained that this exhibition was an opportunity to meet with representatives of Italian tourism companies, given the importance of the Italian market for Egyptian tourism. During the exhibition's activities, Al-Kady held a number of bilateral meetings with representatives of Italian tourism companies, tour operators, and airlines, during which he talked about the developments in the tourism sector in Egypt and the development of the tourism infrastructure, including the establishment of a road and transportation network linking the various tourist governorates to facilitate the movement of tourists between cities, in addition to what the ministry is doing to create new tourism products. He also referred to the local and international events held in Egypt, including the celebration of the famous Italian fashion house Stefano Ricci's Golden Jubilee at Hatshepsut Temple in Luxor and the upcoming UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP 27) that Egypt will host in Sharm El-Sheikh this November. The CEO also briefed them on the advertising and promotional campaigns launched by the ministry to promote the Egyptian tourist destination in various tourist markets. He added that during the meetings, they discussed how to increase the tourist movement coming to Egypt from various tourist markets — especially from the Italian market — given the efforts of the Egyptian state to increase the number of incoming tourism to Egyptian tourist destinations by 25-30% annually, in addition to discussing the diversification of the tourism experience for tourists during their visit to Egypt. For his part, Farag explained that representatives of Italian tourism companies, tour operators, and airlines emphasised the increase in demand from the Italian market to visit the Egyptian tourist destination, and that Italian tourists consider Egypt as their "favourite and first tourist destination," indicating that there is an expected increase in demand for cultural tourism to visit archaeological sites in Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan, along with beach tourism to visit the cities of Sharm El-Sheikh and Marsa Alam.
