Zaazou tells USTOA Egypt is ready for business

Hisham Zaazou, the minister of tourism of Egypt, attended the U.S. Tour Operators Association Annual Conference and Marketplace in Boca Raton, Fla., last weekend and met with tour operators and media, and was interviewed in an open forum before the general assembly of delegates to the convention.

He brought the message that travelers are coming back to Egypt, and the government wants to take action to try to boost the flow of tourism traffic and to help it gain momentum.

“We in the government feel that the coming weeks and months will be good for Egypt as a destination,” said Zaazou. “We are now moving out of the revolutionary period for Egypt and the period of up and down, zigzagging and moving one way or the other when it comes to business. We are much more stable. The figures of the last six months, in particular right after the new president took office, are proving to be successful. We have witnessed double digit growth this last six months. First quarter this fiscal year, July through September, we had 58 percent growth overall. Some of the markets reported triple-digit increases. All markets are improving, including the U.S. I’m speaking from a base that became very low because the interest in Egypt dropped. But I’m talking about trends, and the trend is positive.”