Egypt targets Malaysia's MICE sector to revive its tourism

CAIRO: Egypt is targetting Malaysia as one of its important future tourism markets, especially in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) sector, as the country moves towards diversifying its attractions to improve tourist arrivals.
General Director of International Tourism Department, Egyptian Tourism Authority, Dr Adel El Masry, said that the Malaysian market, which was very focused on religious and culture tourism, needed to be exposed to other new attractive areas in Egypt for MICE, honeymoon, adventure and diving destinations.
"For diving and snorkeling, there's Hurghada, Sharm el-sheikh, Marsa Alam and Ras Mohammed. In Siwa, there's safari, crystal mountain and sandboarding, while golfers will love Alexandria, Luxor and Cairo.
"We already have good contact with Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) and have discussed on doing online campaign to attract Malaysian market," he told visiting Malaysian journalists here, recently.
On the MICE sector, El Masry said that Egypt has more than six international-standard conference/exhibition halls all over the country including in Cairo, Luxor, Alexandria and Sharm el-sheikh, with 260,000 hotel
rooms available.
To boost tourist arrivals under the MICE sector, the Egyptian Tourism Authority will invite big corporations to hold their annual conference here, he added.
"We plan to organise a conference for travel agents association of India in September for 700 members and I'm also in contact with Matta to organise such a conference in October or November," he said.
The General Director said besides Malaysia, other Asian and Latin American countries, would also be Egypt's focus to revive its tourism sector after a slowdown since the 2011 revolution.
Prior to the revolution, which toppled Hosni Mubarak's three decades rule, Egypt received around 14 million tourists annually, of which 30,000 were from Malaysia, El Masry noted.
Seventy per cent of the tourists were from Europe, Arab countries (18%), and the remaining from the rest of the world.
According to World Bank data, tourist arrivals to Egypt dropped to around 9.4 million in 2011. In 2014, the number recorded was 9.6 million.
On safety concern, El Masry emphasised that Egypt was "not in war" and said that any clashes, including those in north Sinai Peninsula, were isolated incidents.
"While south Sinai, which is some 600km away, is safe and 100% under Egyptian control. Egypt is moving in the right direction after the revolution and the situation now is much better and politically stable," he added.
The General Director said the large number of international students in Egypt, including 12,000 from Malaysia, did not support some western media reports that Egypt was not safe for visits.
"The government takes the necessary safety measures at the airport, streets and tourists destinations and if they (the students and their families) do not feel that this country is safe and stable, they will not have stayed and studied here," he said. — Bernama