REPORT FROM CAIRO – The Mediterranean Travel Fair 2003 started yesterday, in Egypt, with the presence of…
REPORT FROM CAIRO – The Mediterranean Travel Fair 2003 started yesterday, in Egypt, with the presence of His Excellency Prime Minister Dr. Atef Ebeid and Dr. Mamdouh El-Beltagui minister of Tourism in its inaugural ceremony.
Dr. El-Beltagui welcomed the guests, visitors and participants in Cairo, the largest city in Africa, and the Middle East.
As minister with the responsibility for Egyptian tourism, I dedicate part of my speech to acquaint the respected audience with the Egyptian product, which is without doubt rich and unique, continued the minister and analyse the Egyptian tourism product.
I gladly announce today that the Egyptian industry of tourism has weathered the storms and completely recovered from the War on Iraq, the ongoing Palestinian Israeli conflict and other international predicaments that sluggish tourism, he added.
Statistics show that the month of July 2003 has witnessed a record number of incoming tourists, amounting to 623 thousand tourists representing an increase of 26% compared with same month in 2002. Also, the tourist nights reached 4,9 million nights with a huge growth rate of 78,7% compared with the same period in year 2002. Then comes August 2003 that witnessed a larger record number of incoming tourists, amounting to 743 thousand visitors representing an increase of 29,5%. Furthermore, the tourist night reached 9,3% million nights with a tremendous growth rate of 121,2% compared with August 2002, he concluded.
In MTF 2003 this year participated 18 countries with a number of new exhibitions including Greece and Qatar, for the first time. Egypt is set to build on the success of last years show, with large international participation as well as representation from a number of key Egyptian companies.
Supporting the event are the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, the Egyptian Tourist Authority, the Egyptian Tourism Federation, the Egyptian Travel Agents Association, who are also the events official ground handler, the Egyptian Hotel Association and Egypt Air the official carrier.
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