Mr Faisal Al – Zayady, Tourism Counselor of Egypt in Greece analyzes in TravelDailyNews how Egypt continues to be an attractive destination.

TravelDailyNews: What are your expectations for the tourism industry in your country after the recent bombings in Sharm El Sheihk?

Faisal Al – Zayady: Terrorism is a bad habit for all over the world not only for Egypt. The recent bombings had an impact in our tourism flow but our industry showed significant endurance as we have managed to get over the negative effects and recover very quickly. According to statistical data from well-respected organization such as the World Tourism Organization, Egypt will have a significant increase in tourist arrivals this year. As far as terrorists attacks are concerned, I have to add that a stronger cooperation between the local people and the government has to be established in order not to see similar incidents in the future.

TDN: What measures are you going to undertake in order to establish safety in Egypt?

F. Al-Z: For us the tourism flow is our judge. Egypt is a very safe country and we have created a high level of cooperation among all the related authorities in order to build a stable and viable framework of securing our country.

TDN: What initiatives does the Ministry of Tourism undertake to attract more visitors from the Middle East region and why?

F. Al-Z: Our tourism policy doesn’t concern only Middle East travelers but we want Egypt to be a destination for all the people in the world. For that reason we participate in all the major travel and tourism exhibitions all over the world. On the other hand, we are trying to create a stable cooperation with the Gulf countries because we believe that is a lucrative market for us. According to statistical data from last March, UK comes first in the tourism flow in Egypt with second country Germany and third Russia. Then, Italy and France follow. As you can see the major European countries contribute a lot to our tourism inbound flow. Another trend for our country has to do with the number of Gulf Arabs visitors which are increased dramatically. They make their way to the region’s largest country for short breaks designed to take advantage of world class shopping now on offer in Egypt.