News for the Hospitality Executive |
American Tourism to Egypt Up 17% in 2008; The US
Has
Largest Market Share Among Foreign Hotel
Management Companies
.
(January 29, 2009, New York, New York)-- American Tourism
to Egypt showed a dramatic increase of arrivals in 2008 over the previous
year according to an announcement made by the Hon. Zoheir Garranah, Egypt�s
Minister of Tourism. �We had 319,000 thousand visitors from the US last
year, representing a 17% increase.�
Much of this optimism is supported by US-based tour operators. Robert Whitley, President, USTOA, said �In these times when many Americans are cutting back on travel, the real bright spot is Egypt which has enjoyed growth while other destinations have had declines. USTOA is excited about going to Egypt with the hope that more tour operators will include Egypt in their programs and tour operators who currently have Egypt programs will expand their product.� Phil Otterson, Sr. VP External Affairs, Tauck World Discovery and President, the American Tourism Society (ATS), said �Exotic destinations that offer value for the dollar, such as Egypt, are doing quite well in 2009. We are very pleased that as a result of the ATS conference, some of our members who had never been to Egypt before, were so impressed with the quality of the tourism experience there, that they are now including Egypt in their tour programs." �One of the strengths of our destination,� added Mr. Khalifa, �is that it has such a diverse range of activities and accommodation, that there are tours that appeal to the high end luxury client as well as for those on more limited budgets.� Mohamed Anwar, President, Lotus International Tours, said �we expect an increase in traffic in 2009 despite the economic climate. At Lotus there is a demand for lower cost trips and we can offer quality Egyptian programs for limited budgets. In fact the demand for Egypt is so high for this coming summer, that Lotus is adding one more student package to its Egyptian programs.� �2008 was an excellent year for US tourism to Egypt and we expect that 2009 will be equally as good, �said, Ronen Paldi, President, Ya�lla Tours USA. �Egypt is what we call an �emotional� destination. Our clients want to go to fulfill their once-in-a-lifetime dream, to see the world famous Pyramids, take a Nile cruise stopping Luxor and Aswan. For this reason, Egypt has proven to be almost �recession� proof. Ya�lla has experienced a steady flow of bookings since the New Year and we have not had to compromise our high standard or quality of our large selection of tour options.� Adam Leavitt, Vice President Marketing at Trafalgar said �Egypt tours have been growing steadily in popularity over the past few years. Our passenger numbers for 2007 Egypt tours were up 35% over 2006, with 2008 up 44% over 2007. 2009 is looking strong as well, and we are over 35% ahead with our 2009 bookings year to date. Given the current state of outbound international travel in general, these numbers are incredibly encouraging and speak well to another successful year for Trafalgar�s tours to this region. We see this increase in popularity as a result of both the incredible value that escorted touring provides in visiting exotic destinations as well as the desire on the part of our passenger to visit Egypt knowing that all of the details and any of their concerns are being handled by experts.� Egypt Tourist Authority/Africa Travel Association Road Show Promotes
Congress
For more information about Egypt visit www.egypt.travel.
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Contact:
Karen Hoffman
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Also See: | Countries are Brands Too! Australia Ranks #1 For World's Top Country Brand, Croatia, China and the United Arab Emirates Named �Rising Stars� for Tourist Destinations / November 2007 |