Egyptian authorities to boost tourism sector
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In the wake of Egypt’s recent social unrest, Samy Mahmoud from the Egypt Tourism Authority said during GIBTM in Abu Dhabi that a number of measures were now being taken to boost tourism to the country. Over 10% of Egypt’s labour force is employed in the tourism industry and about 14 million people visit Egypt annually. Last year, tourism brought in approximately $13bn while the country lost over $1bn during the popular uprising.However, about $5 million is now being spent on advertising, incentives are being offered for charter flights from any destination to Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada and Luxur, familiarisation trips are being organised for the media and an awareness programme has been laid out for travel trade.Security was still the biggest concern for visitors, Mahmoud affirmed, and he believed it would take at least four months for tourism to recover. Many Egyptian hotels had dropped their rates by more than 50% but he was hopeful that the market would be one of the first to recover. The MICE industry is still very small in Egypt and more training and education is now necessary to boost numbers in this sector.
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