Sherif Fathy explained the destination was expecting to close the year on 15.3 million arrivals, which would be a 5% increase year-on-year. “The year before, we saw double-digit growth,” he said.
“There’s no doubt we have been affected by the geopolitical situation, and the need to explain the Middle East is not one country – Egypt is a big country, with our own borders, and we have stability."
Fathy’s appearance at WTM London was his first in the UK since being appointed to his new role. He will steer the strategy behind Egypt’s goal of reaching 30 million tourists by 2028.
However, he admitted the future was uncertain, “We need to make forecasts and revisit them as we go,” he said. “Stability around us would be a great enabler to go back to double-digit growth.”
The development of new touristic areas will help increase arrivals, he said, highlighting the city of St Catherine in mountainous South Sinai as one such area where new roads were being built and the airport expanded.
“The area is famous for the oldest Christian monastery in the world," he said. "We are working on creating tourism-related infrastructure to attract tourists for meditation, hiking and camping."
Another area attracting investment is Ras Banas on the southern Red Sea coast, south of Marsa Alam. Longer-term, the resort could rival Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, Fathy claimed, adding: “It will open in stages and take years to develop.
"Ras Banas has virgin, pristine beaches, and the weather is warmer because it’s further to the south. We are working on better connectivity with Luxor by road, for beach and culture together.”
In the shorter term, the long-awaited official opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, including Tutankhamun’s entire treasure collection, should incentivise visitors, but Fathy remained tight-lipped about when that might be.
“We are testing the museum with a soft opening and we need time to plan the big opening events, which will be on a global scale. But there’s no doubt, once it’s fully open, we’ll see a boost in numbers.”
