CAIRO: Egyptian Minister of Tourism, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour attributed the commencement of ‘We will see Egypt' to Egypt Air, which is operating its internal lines and the hotels. He said the initiative was a result of cooperation between the Ministry of Tourism, the Egyptian National Bank, and Egyptian travel agencies. He emphasized the initiative to provide inbound journeys to Sharm al-Shiekh, Hurghada, Matrouh, Luxor and Aswan. These trips aim to support domestic tourism at extraordinary prices, at an estimated 1,450 EGP (U.S $244) per individual, including accommodation and the airline tickets. Abdel Nour said on the evening talk show '10:00 P.M.,' his ministry will announce a list of travel agencies and hotels that will participate in the initiative within a week. He added that the telecommunication provider will take over the advertising campaign. Abdel Nour assured the main objective of the initiative is to present Egypt to the world as a stable country that citizens can enjoy with domestic tours without fear. He blamed the media that seeks for exciting news regardless of Egypt's interests, the matter led to give the rest of the world a bad impression about the state of security in Egypt. Abdel Nour assured Egypt is witnessing a high rate of the Jordanian, Kuwaiti, and Saudi Arabian tourists through ministry-adopted campaigns in each respective country. He said Egypt used to have a large number of Libyan tourists but the current condition affected these numbers. Abdel Nour said 15 million tourists visited Egypt in 2010, achieving U.S. $13 billion, a recorded 11.5 percent of Egypt's GDP. In the current year, the ministry expects U.S. U.S. $10 million after media and advertising campaigns the ministry adopts to promote Egypt's tourism. He underlined Russian and German tourists are still anxious of the state of security in visiting Egypt. Abdel Nour said Italian Prime Minister, Selvio Berlusconi, promised to promote Egyptian tourism through Italian media and expresses his hopes of Egypt restoring its security for better tourism rates. Arabic here
