Egyptian Tourism Authority reports record visits to www.egypt.travel

Created to provide travellers with a one-stop resource for finding out more about the country, Egypt was also the first international tourist board to pioneer the new '.travel' domain name.

The portal has been designed to appeal to a wide range of potential visitors to Egypt and provides users with information on the destination's wealth of historical and cultural attractions, as well as highlighting its beautiful beaches and range of activity based holidays such as diving, desert safaris, yachting and golfing.

The website also features travel information such as visa requirements and useful phone numbers to help visitors have an enjoyable stay in Egypt. Available in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Russian www.egypt.travel is one of the key initiatives of Egypt's integrated marketing campaign designed to double global visitor numbers from eight million in 2004, to 16 million in 2014.

Mr Ahmed El Khadem, Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Authority commented

'Since the launch of www.egypt.travel a little over five months ago, it is clear that there is significant demand for a dedicated online travel resource that enables visitors to Egypt to plan all aspects of their vacation to our exciting and diverse country.'

Mr El Khadem added, 'We will continue to develop and build on the website to ensure that it not only continues to provide a whole host of useful information to consumers and trade alike, but also plays a valuable part in helping us to attract more visitors to Egypt and ultimately reach our goal of attracting 16 million visitors by 2014.'

A second dedicated website www.trade.egypt.travel has also been developed specifically for travel agents and media and is currently available in 18 different countries in 14 different languages (including all Scandinavian languages, Czech, Polish). In addition to comprehensive destination details, the site also provides agents and journalists with additional features such as the opportunity to download photographs, access press releases and media packs or simply order a sales guide. In coming months, the Egyptian Tourism Authority will also add a series of online educational modules for agents.

Both websites offer the possibility to subscribe to online services, with 2,759 travel agents registering on the trade site and over 11, 000 users from 15 different nationalities requesting a regular newsletter from www.egypt.travel

Next month the Egyptian Tourism Authority is also set to unveil a new multi-million dollar worldwide television and print advertising campaign titled 'Gift of the Sun'. To be launched across Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East, this new campaign will build on the success of the www.egypt.travel by continuing to highlight and build on the many wonderful experiences Egypt has to offer its visitors.