TravelPulse spoke to Mohamed Hegazy

Back to Egypt: Egyptian Tourist Authority's Hegaz Talks Tourism

Mohamed Hegazy,
the director-consul of the Egyptian Tourist Authority in New York

Ever since the Arab Spring in January 2011, most tourists from the U.S., Europe and even Asia have been afraid to travel to Egypt, even though tourists have not been targeted or disturbed in the political turmoil that surrounded the Arab Spring and its aftermath. The abandonment of Egypt by tourists has been devastating for the economy of Egypt, and the economic devastation has created widespread suffering.

But now there is light at the end of the tunnel. Finally after nearly four years of economic hardship for Egyptians, tourists are flowing back to Egypt and the tourism economy is humming again. TravelPulse spoke to Mohamed Hegazy, the director-consul of the Egyptian Tourist Authority in New York, about the hopeful changes now coming to Egypt.

TravelPulse: Is tourism coming back to Egypt?

Mohamed Hegazy: Yes, it is coming back strongly, especially in July, August and September. Our figures show more than 72 percent increase over last year. And through our conversations with tour operators and hotels we are hearing that 2015 looks really good in terms of booking.

TP: Wow, 72 percent is a lot. People must be very happy.

MH: Yes, definitely they are happy. It looks like Egypt is coming back and it looks more stable than at any time in the last three or four years.

TP: Are there any new trends in the returning tourists? Are they pretty much the same as before? Are there any changes in the way they are touring now?

MH: The basic itinerary people are following is still the same. We also have new tours following the holy family trail in Egypt, where Jesus Christ spent four years in Egypt and left all these Coptic churches. This is a new tourism product now because many of these Coptic churches are being restored and are reopened again for visiting in Old Cairo.

Also we have some new events. This month we have the Disney show in Cairo, a classic light show in the Cairo International Conference Center in order to amuse and entertain our guests from all over the world. It will be a daily show for one week, the last week of November.  

Then in December we have the opera “Aida” being staged at the Giza Pyramids. So we have many activities to surprise our tourists.

Another offering we have that is new to the U.S. market is our ecolodge product in the desert, like the one at the Siwa Oasis. This is one of the new products being presented to the U.S. Tourists, where they can enjoy a range of different safari tours and the desert environment and view the oasis.  

TP: What are you doing to get the word out and get people traveling back to Egypt.

MH: Right now we are attending several trade shows in the U.S.A. We’re also conducting seminars to update the tour operators about the latest situation and products in Egypt as well. We are offering them in Washington, D.C. and New York.

TP: How long do you think it will take to get back up to the kind of traffic you had four years ago?

MH: According to the statistics we have, we think that maybe by end of 2015 we may reach regular rate of tourism again

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