Egypt - the New Partner Country of ITB Berlin 2012 is Optimistic About the Future
Egypt is to be the partner country of ITB Berlin 2012. Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, the Egyptian Minister of Tourism, and Raimund Hosch, CEO of Messe Berlin, have signed an agreement to this effect at ITB Berlin.
The peaceful revolution has been the theme dominating the participation of this popular tourism destination in this year’s ITB Berlin. Having taken up his post two weeks ago, the new minister of tourism expressed his delight that ITB Berlin was the destination of his first trip abroad. ”This is extremely important for us”, said Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour at ITB Berlin, adding, “we stand by our business partners and will be honouring all our agreements“. He noted that as the sector contributing most to the Egyptian economy tourism would continue to remain important. “The livelihood of one in seven Egyptians depends directly or indirectly upon tourism.” The tourism authorities have reacted quickly and adjusted their promotional campaigns to accommodate recent events. Taking as its slogan “Welcome to the country of the peaceful revolution“, a campaign has been launched focusing on a peaceful new beginning. The previous headline “Egypt – where everything began“ still holds true but, according to Amr El Ezaby of the Egyptian Tourism Board, in the present tense it takes on a new meaning. “Egypt – where everything begins” is the slogan now.
The demonstrations at the end of January caused a huge decline in tourism. However it is already beginning to recover. There were no visitors in February, but Abdel Nour hopes to secure their return in March. “Tourism will be back to previous levels sooner than expected.“ He is confident that the overall statistics in 2011 will be equal to those of 2010. Last year there were 14.2 million tourists, 1.33 million of whom were Germans, which surpassed the 2009 figure for German tourists by 10.5 per cent.
