Egypt to invest in Australian marketing

Egypt to invest in Australian marketing
By admin


Egypt’s minister for tourism has pledged to ramp up marketing efforts in Australia as he revealed it was one of the few markets to post a decline in 2012.

Hisham Zaazou told Travel Today that poor air connectivity and negative images in the media were behind the 9% decline to 33,000 visitors.

However, overall visitation for the year rose 17.4% to 11.5 million, with tourism receipts climbing 15% to US$20 billion.

The numbers are an improvement on 2011, when the revolution saw visitation fall by one third amounting to losses in the order of US$3 billion.

“In 2012, we started gathering momentum,” he said. “Images coming from Tahrir Square are not helping, but in spite of that, people are still coming. If it was really instable, people wouldn’t come.”

Although an Australian roadshow is unlikely to take place this year, Zaazou confirmed the ministry will look at improving its local representation, with the closest office currently located in Japan.

“We need a solution for Australia,” he said. “We need to spend more money there.”

Zaazou was also optimistic the new alliance between Qantas and Emirates would stimulate air traffic from Australia which has suffered since Egypt Air withdrew its direct Sydney service when Emirates entered the market.

Meanwhile, he confirmed that no hotels have closed as a result of the instability, with occupancies in all regions apart from Cairo holding up.

Its cruise sector is also seeing good growth, with 600,000 passengers passing through its sea ports in 2012, up from 490,000 the previous year.

Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

egypt

Latest News

  • Aviation

Top four airports report return to profit after post-Covid period comes to an end

The aeronautical operations of Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney airports returned to profit in 2022-23, the first full financial year since the end of COVID-19 travel restrictions, the ACCC’s latest Airport Monitoring Report shows. In contrast, all four monitored airports reported losses on their aeronautical operations in 2021-22. A return to profit was helped by […]

  • Luxury

COMO launches new family-sized farmhouse in the heart of Tuscany

COMO Hotels and Resorts has launched its new farmhouse apartments in the heart of Tuscany, just in time for Australians to escape our wet winter. And it’s also an ideal time for Aussies of Italian ancestry to explore their home country as 2024 has been declared the year of Roots and Heritage Tourism by the […]

  • Aviation

Green light, green fuel for Townsville Airport as passenger numbers set to double to 3.7m

The Townsville Airport Master Plan, including the expansion of the airport terminal and development of the surrounding precinct, has been given the green light by the Federal Government. The 2023 plan outlined Townsville Airport’s strategic vision and growth objectives over the next two decades, with a detailed focus on the initial eight years. Townsville Airport […]

  • Destinations
  • News

New Caledonia in lockdown and airport closed after violent riots rock Noumea

New Caledonia officials have announced a 6pm-6am curfew, a liquor ban and have closed the country’s main airport after overnight riots in which vehicles were torched and roads blocked in the wake of proposed constitutional reforms. Australian Government website Smartraveller has issued an alert informing visitors to exercise a high degree of caution in metropolitan […]