Tuğçe ODABAŞI-Burak KESKİNCİ-İSTANBUL, (DHA)- Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB) organised an event for the promotion of Egyptian tourism destinations and the development of cooperation between Egyptian and Turkish tourism stakeholders. Speaking at the Egypt Destination Promotion Meeting, TÜRSAB Vice President Davut Günaydın stated that they aim to increase tourism between Turkey and Egypt from 4 months to 12 months with the agreements and negotiations.

Turkish Travel Agencies Association (TÜRSAB) brought together Egyptian and Turkish tourism stakeholders in Istanbul. Egyptian Ambassador to Ankara Amr Elhamamy, TÜRSAB Vice President Davut Günaydın, CEO of Egyptian Tourism Authority Amr El Kady, vice presidents, representatives of travel agencies from Turkey and Egypt and many tour operators attended the Egyptian Destination Promotion and B2B event held at TÜRSAB Headquarters.

During the event; B2B meeting events were held where tourism operators in Turkey came together with tourism operators in different countries, where companies had the opportunity to present and promote their products and opportunities to each other and to cooperate as a result. In the meeting where travel and tourism agencies from both countries came together and introduced their products, tourism activities and targets between Turkey and Egypt were discussed. Amr El Kady, CEO of the Egyptian Tourism Authority, made a presentation about the tourism destinations in Egypt, which has been on the rise in recent years.

TÜRSAB Vice President Davut Günaydın made the opening speech of the meeting. Mr Günaydın stated that meetings will be held with the participating agency owners from Turkey and Egypt and a comprehensive report will be prepared as a result of the meetings.

GÜNAYDIN: WE WILL BRING EGYPTIAN TOURISTS TO TURKEY FOR 12 MONTHS

TÜRSAB Vice President Davut Günaydın stated that they aim to increase tourism between Turkey and Egypt from 4 months to 12 months with the agreements and negotiations. Davut said the following about the meeting:

"We had very good negotiations to send more tourists from Turkey and to bring more tourists from Egypt to Turkey. Although Egyptian tourists coming to our country usually come to Istanbul, Antalya, Bodrum region, we have decided that the next destination will be Cappadocia and the Black Sea, and with the promotion of these two regions, we will hopefully contribute to the goal of spreading tourism to 12 in the Black Sea region. We will bring Egyptian tourists to Turkey for 12 months."

ELHAMAMY: OUR SIMILARITIES IN FOOD, MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT ARE AMAZING

Amr Elhamamy, Ambassador of Egypt to Ankara, stated that he attaches great importance to the development of tourism between Turkey and Egypt and said: "Turkish tourists coming to Egypt almost tripled with the easing of visa procedures for Turkish citizens. Developing tourism between the two countries has always been a priority for me. Turkey is very important for the relations between the two countries apart from historical reasons. It was only recently that we realised that there are strong ties between us in terms of lifestyle and traditions. I didn't realise how close we were before I came here. The similarities between us in terms of food, music and entertainment are fascinating."

KADY: WE WILL DESIGN COMBINED PACKAGES FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVELLERS

Amr El Kady, CEO of the Egyptian Tourism Authority, said: "Turkey and Egypt are very close and we have a very long history. In fact, we work together in many sectors, industry, trade and investment. Tourism is actually one of the areas where Egypt and Turkey can work together. And this is exactly what we are discussing with our other travel agency colleagues. We will design combined packages for international travellers from China, Japan, Korea, the United States of America, who will visit not only Turkey or not only Egypt, but Turkey and Egypt together. These programmes will be in the interest of both countries, on the one hand, to facilitate and promote Turkish tourism to Egypt and to facilitate and promote tourism from Egypt to Turkey. This will make the relations of both countries stronger and of course it will be the best for both countries."

"WE WORK TO EDUCATE AND PROMOTE A CULTURE OF SUSTAINABILITY"

El Kady also talked about his work for sustainable tourism, "Since the whole world is working for sustainability, the Egyptian tourism authority as well as the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities are working to educate and promote the culture of sustainability among institutions first. Hotels, restaurants, dive centres, travel agencies and companies are working to spread the importance of culture and sustainability. We are working on very strong regulations, especially in the hospitality sector, to promote sustainability, which is the number one issue. Every one of the hotels across Egypt now needs to get what we call the 'Green Star' certificate from the ministry of tourism activities from the diving centres and have system stability and adapt their policies in terms of using alternative energy instead of just the electricity we have. Wind and solar energy, water recycling, waste recycling, minimising the use of plastics and hotels and all kinds of sustainability that makes the hotel more environmentally friendly, more sustainable, as well as making the local people interested in the hotel business or traveller tourism business."

"WE HAVE GAINED A VERY GOOD REPUTATION INTERNATIONALLY"

El Kady also explained the factors that have been effective in this growth in Egypt, which has recently become very popular and the rate of tourist inflow from Turkey and the world has increased, and continued as follows:

"Egypt was actually one of the first destinations to be reopened as holy three months after the pandemic, and this was thanks to the health measurement in Egypt. We have worked on a new strategy based on building strong relationships with tour operators, airlines, hotel chains and other stakeholders such as ministries and tourism authorities in each country to promote Egypt in terms of hygiene in destinations and safety against the Covid virus, so we are establishing this. We have made new measurements for the quality of service in Egyptian hotels with new criteria and these have actually improved in the last three years, so we have gained a good reputation. We have done good promotion, good advertising campaigns and good marketing strategies. The stability in Egypt, the security in Egypt, the beautiful weather in Egypt, the beaches and of course the reputation of Egypt as a whole as a very different historical destination. All this has led to numbers increasing by 27 per cent every year after the pandemic, which makes us very ambitious about the future."