Creating a Home Away from Home

The Ministry of Tourism aims to capitalise on Egypt's popularity with Gulf travellers, focusing on its close relations with the region and its growing range of attractions

As Egypt's Minister for Tourism, H.E. Zoheir Garranah is playing a key role in driving the country's economy. Tourism in Egypt accounts for at least 11 percent of all jobs in Egypt, and contributes to some 70 other sectors. In conditions that most people in the travel industry acknowledge to be difficult, Egypt's tourism sector is achieving creditable growth in income of around 5 percent per annum.

Building on Egypt's Ties with the Gulf

“Our ties with the Gulf are stronger than ever,” Mr. Garranah explained. “The Gulf is a strategic partner of Egypt in the tourism industry. In the past three years, there has been a very significant increase of investment from the Gulf in tourism development projects, and we feel that there is great potential for this market. Last year we had a 13 percent increase in tourism coming from the Gulf.” The Gulf States are seen as a source of particularly stable growth in business for Egypt.

Mr. Garranah has extensive knowledge of the tourism industry in Egypt, having spent 25 years working in the Garranah group of companies, where he rose to become Chairman and helped steer the Group's extraordinary growth from a small company staffed by seven people to a global conglomerate employing some 2400. He has been chosen to apply his experience in achieving the government's target of 14 million tourist visitors per year by the year 2011.

New Investments in Infrastructure

The dedication to reaching this target is demonstrated by the level of targeted investment that is taking place at key destinations. Cairo airport will have doubled its capacity by the end of this year, and the recent opening of the new airport at Sharm Al Sheikh, together with the expansion of Hurghada and Marsa Alam BOT airports will in themselves transform a number of resorts, making them much more accessible for frequent visitors, and making Egypt a more feasible choice for buyers of holiday homes.

Government initiatives are in place to lift restrictions on air traffic to these destinations, and enable a greater number of direct flights from the Gulf States. Air links to the Mediterranean coast are also being improved, and there are efforts to forge ahead with an ambitious overhaul of the country's rail network, whilst relaxation of rules on coastal development are allowing for the construction of new marinas. One recent report named Egypt as the Undiscovered Golf Destination of the World.

Improved infrastructure and communications are essential elements to the realization of planned, fully integrated mega developments, such as in El Gouna. These massive projects enable large scale developers from countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE to undertake self-contained developments that include international class hotels, restaurants, shopping and leisure facilities. Further projects are already in the pipeline for other destinations.

The Ministry of Tourism sees these investments as essential in their efforts to build on the already rapid growth in numbers of tourist visitors from the Gulf, currently increasing at around 13 percent each year.

Attractive Resorts, Competitive Prices

Mr. Garranah believes that Egypt has some major advantages as a destination for Gulf tourists: The pleasant ambience of the Mediterranean coast complements the prospect of sunshine all year round in the popular resorts of the Red Sea and Sinai. Real Estate prices in Egypt are still very reasonable compared to many Gulf resorts, and recent liberalization of traditional restrictions has made it much easier for foreigners to buy property.

“Every foreigner is treated today as an Egyptian, in terms of freehold, right to use, selling and buying, registering, all the essential rights for investors to be able to realize the full potential of their investments are today fully assured in Egypt,” Mr. Garranah explains.

Retail

At present, Mr. Garranah admits that Egypt is still weak in the area of large shopping developments, and believes that this is a particular issue for visitors from the Gulf, who like to visit the country as families. The development of the retail sector in Egypt suffered for many years from protectionist polices that have now largely been removed, and there has already been a rapid improvement in many parts of the country, but there is a real need for government initiative to encourage more growth in retail.

“Last year we had 1.9 million tourists from the Gulf visiting Egypt, and if we want to achieve increase that figure to 3-4 million, it will not suffice that we have a similar culture, speak the same language and have all the historical and natural marvels that everyone knows about: we also need to offer them equal or better opportunities for shopping than in their home countries.”

Training and Marketing

Amr Elezabi, Chairman of the Egypt Tourism Authority (ETA), explained how the industry is addressing the key issues of marketing and training that will underpin the ambitious growth targets for the industry. “The trainers themselves move to the important tourism spots of the country like Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada, and so on. They undertake the training initiatives on site, using the existing facilities.

This is a very efficient way of addressing the urgent need for training there is in our country until we develop a series of training centers in the main tourist centers.” Mr. Elezabi is also overseeing an approach to marketing Egypt as a popular tourism destination for tourists from the Gulf States that will utilize Egypt's very strong reputation throughout the Arabic speaking world for cultural excellence. The Tourism Authority is organizing a program of promotional events covering a number of the Gulf States that will encompass cultural and artistic activities as well as a ministerial visit and specific promotions by leading companies.

For tourists and investors around the Gulf, the message from Egypt is that the market is very much open for business. As Mr. Garranah confirms; “We always like to say to investors and tourists from the Gulf that they are always welcome to Egypt as a second home.”