El Gouna hosts FVW Workshop driving recovery of German tourism to Egypt

Government and industry figureheads including Mr Hisham Zaazou, Minister of Tourism, Mr Mohamed Assem, Governor of the Red Sea, and Mr Elhamy El Zayat, Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Federation, shared their commitment to supporting the recovery of tourism.

Mr Hesham Zaazou addressed the participating travel trade professionals saying, "This meeting is a great opportunity to share my vision and hear your recommendations. 20% of Egypt's foreign currency is derived from tourism and with the infrastructure well in place, it is the first industry that can rebound and help the Egyptian economy." He also shared signs of recovery, "Germany has always been a solid partner and a top producing source destination and the figures show promise and confidence; nearly 540,000 German tourists visited Egypt between January and June 2012, with a YOY increase of 33.4%, and a 40.6% increase in room nights."

Mahmoud Zuaiter, CEO of International Hotels Holdings (IHH), the Hotels Management Subsidiary of Orascom Development affirmed an optimistic outlook saying that the second half of 2012 will show better figures than the first. "Total revenue generated by Orascom Development hotels increased by EGP100m compared to last year, driving profitability upwards to EGP44m," he said. "Occupancy rates climbed 6% YOY (July 2011 - July 2012), narrowing the gap to almost 20% less than 2010. Equally important, we've seen a 10% rise in pricing (total revenue per available room) and demand from new markets, indicating that we are well on the way to recovery."

Andre Illmer, Director of Destination Services at TUI, Europe's leading travel group affirmed that travel to Egypt is recovering. "We registered over 20% more customers to Egypt in the summer of 2012 compared to 2011 and we have ambitious plans to increase customer figures in Egypt which is why we raised airline capacities and ordered around 85% of the flight seats guaranteed." He added that "German tourists 'know' Egypt, and many are repeat visitors. Nonetheless the Minister's commitment to tackle the misperception of security is the first step to support complete recovery."

Sun Express, a leading charter flight operator also shared their positive outlook. "We've transported almost 300,000 passengers between Germany and Egypt since starting operations in November 2011," said Benjamin Weidmann, Senior Strategy Manager. "Based on solid signs of recovery we've increased flights to Egypt by 50% to 31 weekly flights from 6 German cities."