The Second UNWTO International Conference on Tourism and Media Starts on Thursday in Marsa Alam, Egypt

Conference titled " Working with the Media during Challenging Times".

Abu Dhabi, 25 April 2012: As a sign of the Egyptian tourism industry's continuous recovery; the Second World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) International Conference on Tourism and Media will begin on Thursday 26, April 2012 under the patronage of the Ministry of Tourism- Egypt and Egyptian Tourist Authority in Egypt (ETA).

H.E. Mounir Fakhry Abd ElNour, Minister of Tourism of Egypt, and Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of UNWTO will be opening the conference, which will run until Friday 27th April. , . The event will include over 400 participants and officials from international organizations and tourism and media representatives from Arab countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, Sudan and Egypt.

The conference will emphasize Egypt's pioneering position as a host to the most important historical, cultural, and artistic events in the region. Furthermore, it stresses on Egypt's standing as a favorable destination for tourists around the world. Titled "Working with the Media during Challenging Times;" the conference will highlight the role of tourism in media, and will review the practices of successful communication in addition to discussing the most important tools to achieve a clear vision on media and tourism communication.

Commenting on Egypt's hosting of this important event; Amr El Ezaby, Chairman of ETA, welcomed all participants in this conference and praised the key role played by media to support and stimulate tourism in Egypt, where the Ministry of tourism and the ETA continue to host significant international conferences and meetings in the field of tourism.

"The media has played a significant and effective role in developing and promoting the tourism culture to the public and the Arab world. We will continue to work on strengthening our bonds with the media to help develop our mechanisms of providing accurate information and delivering them in a timely manner. This will allow media outlets the ability to portray the true picture of Egypt's current situation and to broadcast accurate news thereby reinforcing their credibility. Furthermore, the Arab and international media have contributed in clarifying the true image of the situation in Egypt during the last couple of months, which was reflected in the growth of the number of tourists coming to that increased by 32% during the first quarter of 2012 compared with the first quarter of last year," El Ezaby said.

El Ezaby added: "During the last period, ETA's strategy focused on the Arab markets including the UAE market for it has the ability to support the Egyptian tourism sector. In addition, the UAE media, in all its divisions, played an important role in promoting tourism in Egypt, which was clearly evident in the increase in numbers of Emirati visitors by 15.4% during the first quarter of this year."

Moreover, the participants in the Second International Conference of UNWTO will seek to understand some of the pillars that illustrate the method adopted by media in its planning strategies. Additionally, the participants will examine the mechanisms that enable the tourism sector to have an active role in the media. Furthermore, the conference is scheduled to discuss the latest international best practices in the field of handling and dealing with the media during periods of crisis, which offers positive support for the efforts made to overcome them. Also, ways to own and establish more effective relations with the bodies and tourism authorities with different mass media will also be discussed.

In line with strengthening its position as one of the most important tourist destinations in the region and around the world, ; Egypt participated as a partner in the opening ceremony of "ITB Berlin International 2012" exhibition, one of the most significant global events in the field of tourism.

The Egyptian Tourist Authority

Egyptian Tourist Authority was established in March 1981, by presidential decree No. 134 endorsing a recommendation by the Minister of Tourism. The Authority is dedicated to promoting Egypt as a first class tourist destination, in line with the rise of tourism marketing as an independent discipline and the emergence of new tourism promotion tools. The Authority responded to the increasing competition in the travel and tourism industry, by adopting an advanced structure capable of dynamically dealing with the situation. The completion is due to the rising number of new attractive destinations, budget airlines and the huge progress made by the airlines industry.

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Weber Shandwick Middle East and North Africa

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© Press Release 2012

A successful ITB Berlin 2012:Support for the partner country Egypt

Press Conference Egypt
H.E. Amr El Ezabi, Chairman of the Egyptian Tourist Authority; H.E. Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, Egyptian Minister of Tourism; H.E. Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt; H.E. Hisham Zaazou, Senior Assistant Minister of Tourism; Mohamed Gamal, General director, Tourism Department of the Egyptian Consulate General

The partner country Egypt was aware of the strong solidarity shown by the international travel industry. Mounir Fahkry Abdel Nour, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism: “ITB was fantastic! I enjoyed every minute of it and met some fascinating and outstanding people. In addition to the support that I received I am very happy that the problems in a political context have not affected the general mood in the slightest, in fact quite the contrary.

 All our German partners declared their solidarity with us, including the Federal Minister of Economics Philipp Rösler. In personal discussions with Klaus Brähmig, Chairman of the Tourism Committee of the Bundestag, the representatives of the Egyptian parliament and I were able to resolve the confusion that arose as a result of his critical remarks regarding Egypt. It seems to me that ITB Berlin is growing larger all the time, and it is vibrant and more lively than ever. This could be my impression because we are the partner country this year. As a consequence of events taking place around the world the entire travel industry is in transition. This ITB is different from last year’s. I am experiencing a willingness among countries to cooperate and I find this very encouraging.”

The Egypt hall provided opportunities for visitors to use various social media platforms to find out about the political situation within the country. Facilities were available for linking up with Egyptian internet users, to make use of a real time live stream showing vacation centres and resorts in Egypt, or to exchange views and thoughts with Egyptians via Facebook and Twitter.

Bit 2012: Egypt Tourism Authority has announced goals of recovery

 

Determined to go back to the past in terms of numbers of tourists, the ' Egypt has presented at Bit 2012with great strength and energy. To bring a positive message for the present and the future was just Mounir Fakhri Abdel Nour, the Egyptian Minister of Tourism , which brought together practitioners and the press during a meeting held at ' Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan . The speakers also Amr El Ezaby, President of The Egyptian Tourist Authority, Roberto Corbella, Astoi President, Ambassador Antonio Badini, President of the Friends Italy-Egypt HE Mohamed Farid, Egypt's Ambassador to Italy, HE Amr Abbas, Consul General of Egypt in Milan and Dr. Mohamed Abdel Gabbar, Director of the Egyptian Tourist in Italy. The year 2012 opens with optimism and then to Egypt and major projects. "We look forward with confidence and determination. Ourprimary objective is to defend the democratic process of our country - said Minister Abdel Nour - we all work together to build a new and modern Egypt. Our ambition is to get to 2017 with about 30 million tourists by increasing the capacity of airports, ports and hotels. All the political forces that can not support an industry like tourism, which represents for Egypt on 11, 3% of national GDP , is the second foreign exchange earner and employs 3.5000000 to 4,000,000 workers. " 'I media amplify excessively events - the Minister said during the meeting -. Beyond the epicenter consisting of Tahrir Square, in fact, the situation has always been safe and under control. The ultimate tourist destinations like the Red Sea, Luxor, Aswan, oasis, the Western Desert, are quiet and there were never problems. The country is proceeding with the election trail as established and in May we will have a new Parliament and a new President of the Republic. "