The Ministry of Tourism has prepared a new plan to revive tourism to Egypt over the coming three years. The new promotion campaign for the Egyptian tourism abroad for the coming three years has reached dlrs 136 million, according to Head of Tourism Promotion Authority Samy Mahmoud.
More than seven international companies are competing to win a bid offered by the authority to carry out a promotion campaign for Egypt. The name of the winning company will be announced on August 22, after which a new promotion plan for tourism in Egypt will begin. It will target more than 28 world nations.
Sources asserted that JWT Company, which will organise the celebration of the opening of the New Suez Canal Project in August, is probably the company expected to win the bid. The company was responsible for the promotion campaign for Egypt before the January 25, 2011 revolution. The company meets the terms of the bid, which are subject to the list of the authority’s purchases, sales and warehouses, issued by the board for 2014 in conformity with law no. 89 for 1998 on bids.
Meantime, Minister of Tourism Khaled Ramy said the ministry has taken steady steps toward technical transition and has already signed a protocol with the Ministry of Communication on using modern technology to promote for tourism. The coming few weeks are expected to witness the signing of another protocol with the Ministry of Tourism in this respect, he said, calling on the tourism Promotion Authority to swiftly update its website and its social networking pages and to hire youth in the tourism sector for a better follow-up and performance.
He asserted the need to coordinate with offices at Egyptian airports to present cards to tourists to state their remarks on their visit and to provide them with names of social networking pages through which they can write their reviews on their experience in Egypt. He called for the need to use tour guides who speak various languages to activate the online chat service that can be added to the Tourism Promotion Authority’s website to answer any questions by tourists.
As for Arab tourism, the Ministry of Tourism has already started promoting for Arab tourism in a new fashion through giving direct attention to the Arab nations by opening offices for the authority in several Arab countries starting with Abu Dhabi. A celebration will be held in Dubai this week to announce the inauguration of the Egyptian tourism office in Abu Dhabi. UAE mass media will be invited along with a number of Egyptian and UAE businessmen for the event. The new regional office will be responsible for encouraging tourism among the Arab nations and reflect the strategic relations binding Egypt and the UAE, the head of the Authority said.
Regarding e-marketing, Head of the Tourism Promotion Authority Samy Mahmoud said the Ministry of Tourism now depends on a new promotion plan based on unconventional means to cope with the latest technology used particularly the internet and social networking websites. More than 1.5 billion people are now using the internet worldwide and 30% of the internet is used for travel and tourism purposes, he said. Internet applications, social networking pages and Youtube will be used to promote for tourism in Egypt and attract new marketing segments as part of the tourism promotion plan, he said.
The new strategy of e-marketing for Egypt, which has been recently discussed with the Tourism Minister, includes providing Tourism Ministry agents around the clock and online chatting to answer questions by tourists wishing to visit Egypt, he added.
Tourism Promotion Authority offices at airports will act as quality control for all tourists leaving the country to measure their satisfaction with the services offered to them, he said, adding that any complaint will be dealt with at once and even future complaints can be prevented.
The Youtube will be used more to convey the experience of tourists visiting Egypt on daily basis. The Minister will deliver several messages to the world through the Youtube channel. News and positive reports on the tourism sector will be posted on all tourist websites, he pointed out.
The Ministry and the Authority are now working together to improve Egypt’s image on the internet through the immediate tackling of any complaints by tourists on websites such as Trip Advisor to improve Egypt’s image through an electronic marketing team, according to Member of the Minister of Tourism’s Advisory Council Mohamed Youssef.
The team will deal with all complaints on the internet and deliver them to officials at the Ministry of Tourism to take necessary measures, he said, adding that the Minister’s office will also follow up the complaints.
