EGYPT: Egypt Tourist Authority Attracts Arab Travellers

The Egypt Tourism Authority, ETA, has unveiled a new campaign entitled “This is Egypt” (#thisisegypt), to launch a major regional campaign to drive growth in the tourism sector. In a change from previous ETA campaigns, #thisisegypt will be digitally-led, focusing on peer-to-peer advocacy and underpinned by digital media spend, whilst traditional advertising methods will form a secondary promotional level.


Targeting the Arab traveller from the Middle East region, the campaign will harness the power of digital media in a region where internet penetration is 5.8 per cent higher, at 48.1 per cent, than the world average and social media sites, such as Facebook, play a significant role in 88 per cent of internet users’ daily lives.


“The #thisisegypt campaign is a powerful movement which we know will resonate with the wider region as it was created initially by the Egyptian people themselves,” said Egypt’s Minister of Tourism, Hisham Zaazou. “We are at a pivotal point in terms of tourism development in the country and the new campaign and branding demonstrates our commitment in attracting travellers from our sister Arab countries to discover our beautiful country.

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The campaign focuses on personalising the Egyptian experience by encouraging the wider Arab audience to consider the variety of holiday which can be enjoyed in Egypt from a vibrant city break in Alexandria or Cairo to luxury beach getaway in Hurghada or Sharm Al Shaikh. The campaign will highlight past-times which particularly resonate with an Arabic audience from shopping and dining to enjoying luxury accommodation and exciting nightlife.


The campaign will highlight Egypt’s touristic destinations into four main geographic attractions: the Nile Valley, the Red Sea Riviera, the White Mediterranean and the Western Desert. The four destinations will be promoted across different audiences and seasons based on each of the targeted markets’ unique attraction points.


The hashtag, #thisisegypt, originally began as a grass-roots movement developed by Egyptians, but now will be adopted and refined by the ETA to boost tourism by portraying an experiential and authentic image of the country to the world.
The three-year campaign will focus on attracting and engaging diverse audiences, with a focus on millennials who are driven by personal experience, passion and adventure.

Recent studies have shown that millennials take a higher number of trips annually compared to other age groups, driven by the aforementioned factors. Millennials also have the highest level of influence in their respective communities, which indirectly affects the travel decisions of their peers — upon which this campaign heavily relies.