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(Recast) Interview: Chinese visitors infusing more vigor into Egypt's tourism industry following Xi's visit: minister

Xinhua, February 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

More Chinese tourists are flocking to Egypt since President Xi Jinping's recent state visit, bringing increasing energy into the Middle East country's tourism industry, a senior official said.

Xi's visit to Cairo and the ancient southern city of Luxor last month has raised Chinese people's interest in Egypt's tourist sites, even without additional promotion from the Egyptian side, Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou noted in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Tuesday.

"Right after Xi's visit, we received 35 percent extra tourist requests from China," he said. "We were very happy with the president of China's visit to Egypt, which had a wonderful effect."

The culture-rich, most populous Arab country now pins much hope on China and is eager to tap the Chinese tourism market, which Zaazou said is one of the most important markets for Egypt's tourism industry.

"The number of Chinese visitors increased from 65,000 to 135,000 during the year of 2015," Zaazou said, adding that he believes the number could reach between half a million and a million in a short time once there are sufficient flights from China to Egypt.

Noting that the two countries have agreed to arrange 20 flights between the two countries per week -- 10 by Egyptian airliners and 10 by Chinese airliners, he said Cairo is expecting more to meet the growing demands.

Meanwhile, in view of the increasing interest of the Chinese public in Egypt's ancient civilization, the Beijing office of the Egyptian Tourism Ministry (ETM) has asked the headquarters back home to increase funding to promote tourism in China, Zaazou said.

"We will respond to this immediately," the minister said, adding that talks are under way between the two countries to further boost the aviation transport capacity in order to fly a booming number of Chinese tourists.

Employing about 4 million people, tourism is one of the main sources of income for Egypt. In 2010, over 14.7 million tourists visited the country, bringing about 13 billion U.S. dollars to its coffers.

Egypt has been suffering a tourism recession over the past few years due to political turmoil. The situation has deteriorated even further after a Russian plane crash in Sinai killed over 200 last year and an Italian student was tortured to death in Cairo in early February.

On Tuesday, the ETM launched a campaign to promote tourism in 2016 and beyond with a top priority on security. To that end, Egypt hired a global risk and strategic consulting firm in late 2015 to improve its airport security.

According to the minister, the country will soon announce the establishment of a security company with collaboration between government institutions and the private sector.

"The security work will start with the airports and will expand in time to reach major historical sites to enhance the security procedures done by the Interior Ministry," Zaazou said. Endi