Visa-on-arrival for Indians in Egypt
From Visa-on-arrival (VOA) to new flights from Delhi and welcoming TAAI this year, Egypt Tourism is focussing on the India market in a big way. has details.
DEVIKA JEET While
Egypt recently hit a rough patch with tourism due to its political situation, the conditions in this country have now changed and to reiterate this, Hisham Zaazou, Minister of Tourism, Egypt, says, “Tourists are welcomed in our country and we consider this sector to be very important”.
At present, Asians only add up to 3.5 per cent of their total tourist arrivals and Indians are a small majority in this. In 2010, a total of 114,248 Indian arrivals were recorded and the number for 2012 was 82,698. Out of the total Indian visitors last year, 76 per cent were male and 24 per cent were female and a majority were the first time travellers to Egypt. The country only recorded 24 per cent repeat tourists from India.
Taking swift steps to promote tourism from India, Zaazou says, “We are providing more facilities for VoA to Indians. Anyone with an American, British or Schengen visa can avail this opportunity.” At present, VoA facilities were only available for group travel of over 10 people with fixed day departures. His Excellency Khaled el Bakley, Ambassador of Egypt to India, adds to this, saying, “It’s not necessary to have valid visas to avail this VoA facility.”
Another important development will be the increase in connectivity by Egypt Air. “We hope to connect Delhi and Cairo with flights four times a week being introduced in the winter schedule this year. I have had very promising meetings with travel agents and have been guaranteed excellent load factors. Thus, this looks like a promising development in the near future,” adds Zaazou. The airline already has bilateral rights to fly to Delhi.
Along with these developments, Egypt promises to provide continuous support to their Indian travel partners. “We continue to work on co-marketing activities matching dollar against dollar. We will offer incentives and focus on advertising. Educational fam trips for the trade are also on the cards,” says Zaazou.
Adel Masry, Director of Egyptian Tourism Office in India, said, “India and Egypt have such cultural and social similarities, even though they are in different continents. We want to show how serious we are to strengthen bilateral relations with India. We are sure to encourage tourist and trade traffic from both countries and foster a beautiful relationship between India and Egypt.”
Dr George Nader El Beblawy from the Egyptian Tourism Federation met with Iqbal Mulla, President, TAAI and invited the association to conduct their annual convention in Egypt. “I represent the private sector and extend our welcome to TAAI for their convention in Egypt. I met with Iqbal Mulla regarding the same and we discussed welcoming 1,500 Indians for this convention and are looking at June or July this year as a possible time,” adds Beblawy.
The tourism department has also come up with an innovative idea of having webcams in all major tourist destinations across the country and the feed from this can be viewed by anyone across the world. “We want you to see how safe the country is and with the web cameras, you can do exactly that. As it’s live, we cannot change the footage and it’s all available right in front of you,” explains Zaazou.
The famous King Tut Exhibition is also slated to come to India by the end of the year. This will give Indians an opportunity to see the splendor of ancient Egyptians and view their antique artifacts.