Egypt's Tourism Minister And The Pyramids

Egypt’s new tourism minister is not afraid of causing a stir. Addressing a press conference in Dubai last month, he boldly declares: “Let me talk about the supposed hijacking of an Egypt Air passenger jet on its way from Alexandria to Cairo in March. I see this as a positive thing.”
As the assembled throng of journalists starts to fire questions at him (‘Why?’ ‘How?’ ‘Not for those stuck on board, surely!’), Mohamed Yehia Rashed puts up his hands and continues: “You ask me why? I tell you why. It showed the world the pilot did an excellent job. He did exactly as he should have, he took zero risks and he landed the plane safely.

“He also refused to leave until the last passenger had disembarked. It sent a message to the world how much Egypt cares.”
Rashed has more tales from the hijacking – which he claims “show the world the Egyptian sense of humour”. There was the group of passengers who took a ‘selfie’ standing with the alleged hijacker and the story of the aggrieved wife who, on hearing that the plane her husband had boarded that day was in trouble, went straight to the bank and cleared out their entire account, believing he would not survive.

Making light of what could have been a grave situation is a risky tactic for any politician, but particularly one tasked with quelling deep-rooted public fears over Egypt’s national security.

Last October, a bomb brought down a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, and in January three tourists were stabbed by suspected ISIL militants who stormed a hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, one of Egypt’s most popular tourist destinations.

There are continued reports of small explosions in Cairo and ongoing political turmoil in North Sinai. The Sharm El Sheikh resort areas of South Sinai already have heightened security protection in place after a string of terror attacks on foreign tourists in years gone by – most recently in 2006, when a series of bombs exploded in Dahab killing 23 people and injuring 80. Few foreign airlines serve the region these days, while the governments of what used to be key source markets for tourists have issued strong warnings against travel to the area, including the UK and the US.

There impact on visitor numbers has been detrimental. The number of foreign tourists plummet by more than 40 percent in the first quarter of 2016, from 640,200 in February 2015 to 346,000 this year, according to Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.

Numbers had been slowly recovering after plummeting following the 2011 revolution. In 2010, the country attracted 14.7 million visitors – a record. That halved in 2011 but had been increasing, topping 9 million in 2014, official figures show.

The UK’s Daily Mail published photographs last month purporting to show a desolate Sharm El Sheikh. Once a bustling tourist resort, the pictures depict a ghost town with empty swimming pools, deserted beaches and abandoned hotels.

Egypt’s tourism industry is also affected by the government’s short supply of foreign cash reserves, which for several months meant foreign airlines including Dubai’s Emirates were unable to repatriate profits. The country is facing its worst US dollar shortage since 2011.

Earlier this year, some affected airlines threatened to pull out of Egypt altogether. Emirates Airline has reportedly now reached a deal with the Egyptian government based on staggered repatriation of an estimated $10m over several months, but Air France-KLM said in March it had been unable to repatriate any earnings since October and is owed more than $12.8m. Egypt’s civil aviation ministry has promised that airlines would be paid what they are owed in foreign currency over “the coming period”, but it remains to be seen how quickly the issue can be resolved.

It is fair to say that Rashed, a former Marriott hotel manager who took over from three-time tourism minister Hisham Zaazou in March, has his work cut out for him.

Yet, speaking to Arabian Business during his recent visit to Dubai, Rashed says the country is optimistic that it can restore public confidence and win back millions of tourists. “Look, Egypt has a third of the world’s ancient riches and probably another two-thirds not yet discovered. We need to get the positive vibe out there,” he says. He adds that, right now, “we are very transparent and there is nothing we cannot answer” to address people’s fears, questions and concerns.

Egypt aims to attract 12 million visitors by the end of 2017 with a six-point plan, including cooperating with international tourism partners to promote the country; working with EgyptAir, the national carrier, to develop and serve new destinations, attracting inward investment to enhance Egypt’s tourism infrastructure, and developing a growing trend in Egypt of eco-friendly travel.

Attracting visitors from elsewhere across the Arab world is a key plank of the strategy, Rasheed says, explaining that there is a “sense of solidarity” between Egypt and the rest of the Middle East. In December, the Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA) launched a digital campaign called ‘#thisisegypt’ in an attempt to market Egypt’s “unique cultural offer” to tech-savvy Middle Eastern consumers.

The three-year campaign aims to take advantage of high internet penetration rates in the region and will focus on highlighting four main Egyptian attractions – the Nile Valley, the Red Sea Riviera, the White Mediterranean and the Western Desert.

Rashed claims that since the campaign’s launch there has already been a rise in visitor numbers from the GCC, in particular from Saudi Arabia. The number of tourists from the UAE increased 16 percent in the first quarter of 2016, at the same time that the total number of visitors to Egypt fell by 40 percent.

The UAE has promised to help build closer ties between the two countries. In April, it pledged $4bn to support Egypt, including $2bn to be deposited at the Central Bank of Egypt to support national cash reserves and a further $2bn to be invested in developing various industries across Egypt.

Meanwhile, the first official Egyptian tourism office in the UAE opened in Abu Dhabi last year, and Rashed says his department is reviewing its other offices across the region in a bid to smarten up their offer.

Ahmed Ali Ismail, tourism counsellor in the Egyptian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, said in a statement to media last month: “We are extremely pleased to report the upturn in visitation from our sister GCC countries.

“We have several tactics and incentives in place to grow the GCC market, including new visa regulations which were brought in at the end of 2015 allowing all nationalities with a minimum six-month residency for GCC nations to gain a visa on arrival in Egypt.”

That being said, Rashed insists Egypt is targeting higher volumes of tourists from the West, as well. “Our target audience is everybody,” he says. “We want 10 times as many visitors from everywhere – I don’t want to name a particular country that we are targeting.”

However, without the aforementioned “sense of solidarity”, are tourists from outside the Arab world more likely to need convincing of Egypt’s safety? “Egypt is no more dangerous than the US, UK, Brussels, Paris,” says Rashed, without missing a beat. “Look, security is not just an issue for Egypt. World tourism is under attack. We are flying the flag for world tourism and we will do all we can to convince the world that we are safe.”

He claims there is a “heavy emphasis” on security at Egyptian airports, and that strict procedures were followed even in the case of the alleged hijacking. “If you look at [CCTV] videos of the supposed hijacking, you can watch people being screened before they board the plane. In one clip you can see officials take a lighter out of a man’s pocket. There is a heavy emphasis on security here.”

Nonetheless, the Egyptian government is taking additional steps to improve airport security in an attempt to bolster public confidence.
Rashed tells Arabian Business that authorities have begun a process of upgrading security equipment, including X-rays and passport control technology, and retraining airport personnel to minimise risks for passengers and transform Egypt’s airports so they can “rival high-tech, high-security airports such as Amsterdam Schipol and London Heathrow”.

He says: “We are upgrading security at all of our airports, putting in new equipment, which plays a very important role in detecting potential risks, and training and retraining the people who handle the security at airports.

“The latter is ongoing – it is a continuous process of auditing actions and procedures at airports. Meanwhile the upgrade of security equipment should be completed within the next three months.”

Travel and tourism, long regarded as a key driver of Egypt’s national revenues, accounted for 11.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, and the government has identified it as a potential driver of future economic growth at a time when the country is trying to balance its books and increase revenues.

The World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Economic Monitor report for Spring 2016 expects Egypt’s growth to slow to 3.3 percent by the end of 2016, before rebounding thereafter. The budget deficit is shrinking slowly, according to the report – it reached 11.5 percent of GDP at the end of 2015, from 12.2 percent of GDP the previous year – and is expected to decline further to 11.3 percent of GDP by end of this year.

However, net international reserves (NIR) dropped to just below $16.5bn in October due to large debt repayments, the unfavorable global fiscal environment, the Sinai Russian plane crash and an ongoing injection of foreign exchange by the central bank to meet import needs and clear forex backlogs, the World Bank report said. Tourism is clearly needed to help boost national reserves – although it is not clear how the government intends to fund its six-point plan and Rashed will not divulge the details despite his earlier claim to leave no questions unanswered.

However, Egypt has a reasonably healthy pipeline of new hotels by big name operators such as Marriott, Hilton Worldwide and Starwood. “Believe it or not, we’re trying to drive further [into Egypt] by expanding,” Hilton Worldwide Middle East and Africa president Rudi Jagersbacher told Arabian Business two years ago. In March, Hilton opened its 199-room Hilton Alexandria King’s Ranch, in the northern coastal city and has plans for more hotels across the country.

For his part, Rashed claims to know the secret of attracting more visitors to Egyptian hotels, having worked in hospitality all of his professional life. He worked for Marriott for 33 years in the US, Europe and Africa, in 1997 landing his first job as general manager of the then-newly opened Paris Marriott in the Champs-Élysées. He moved to Amsterdam in 2004, where he worked as general manager of the Dutch capital’s Renaissance Hotel. After that, Rashed returned to Egypt, where he became the chief leading officer for the Al Kharafi Group for Tourism before moving into government.

“It’s about creating a home from home,” he says. “You need to make it really easy for people to enjoy themselves – travel is a choice and an experience and anyone working in the industry needs to make sure they help to serve that purpose.”

With a new minister in charge, new hotels and new, safer regions under development, Egypt could succeed in recapturing tourists’ hearts, but it will need to focus all of its efforts on maximising security in order to allay the residual doubts.