Society 363 / 2013

ägypten
Interview
countries like the Gran Canaries, Cyprus, Greece,
Tunisia etc.
What is the main obstacle for the tourism
sector at the moment?
Unfortunately, the media is not too kind to
us and the images coming out of Cairo reflect as
if the whole of Egypt was on fire. But that is not
true. The problem is that the media is concentrating
on one square kilometre in the centre of Cairo,
compressing one million square kilometres of the
whole of Egypt into that one square kilometre. I
would say they are not too kind, that is why I am
trying to use counter-effective methods to soften,
dampen, and absorb the negative image.
What kind of methods are these?
Firstly, we decided to concentrate more on our
beach tourism in the Red Sea area and our cultural
tourism only in the South in Luxor and Aswan. Secondly,
we are trying to convince the world through
new technologies which are going now under refinement
by using webcams in the various touristic
spots to give live streams of real pictures of real
people enjoying their time in Egypt. I believe this
innovative way will help in the coming few months
to generate more business to Egypt.
But still there are many people who are afraid
of coming to Egypt. What can you tell them?
Number one, what happened in Egypt is a normal
thing after a revolution. It happened likewise
in Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 1990s.
This is a symptom of a disease that is normal after
a revolution. People were so many years suppressed;
now they are free, now there is an exaggeration
in many things. Number two: it is an
internal, domestic issue, not a foreign issue. The
foreigners and tourists are welcome to Egypt by
everybody to enjoy their time. For sure, if we get
11 million visitors in 2012, I tell the world there is
something right. If there was a real problem, nobody
would come. Who goes to a war zone area?
We are not like this.
What are your aims for 2013?
By the end of this year we will be more or less
out of the transition period and building the
country again. We are in a deep economic crisis
and we need to get back to work, to stability. Even
if there are political differences, down the road as
Egyptians we will have a general consensus about
that. Concerning tourism I have high hopes that
by the end of this year we can even increase our
numbers. We are targeting a very ambitious figure
of approximately 14 million tourists which is 25
percent more than last year. In terms of receipts
we want to generate at least between 11.5 and 12
billion US-Dollars in order to bring the figures almost
to the numbers of 2010.
What is the big strategy of the tourism in
Egypt for the coming years?
»What happened
in Egypt is a
normal thing
after a revolution.
It happened
likewise
in Eastern
Europe in the
1990s.
«
Mohamed
Hisham
curriculum
vitae
H
.E. Mohamed Hisham
Abbas Zaazou was
born in 1954. He has
over thirty years experience
in the tourism industry. He
holds a bachelor degree in
commerce from Ain Shams
University in 1980 and a certificate
for a Public Private
Partnership Program from
Harvard Kennedy School. He
began his career in the City
Bank Group for five years in
Cairo. Then he went to the
USA and worked for R&H
Tourism specializing in the
Middle East. After the First
Gulf War 1991 he returned to
Egypt and became General
Manager of Sakkara Travel
Group. Later on, he was
elected as Director General
of the Egyptian Tourism
Federation, and from 2007
to 2012 he was Assistant
Minister and then Senior
Assistant Minister of Tourism.
He also held the post of
Vice Chairman of the Business
Council of the UNWTO.
Since August 2012 he has
been Egyptian Minister of
Tourism.
To be honest, we are now like a patient who has
had an operation and is in convalescence. We cannot
make serious decisions and have to be realistic
and pragmatic. Europe continues to be our most
important market. That does not mean I am not
trying to tap on other doors. We are trying to open
other markets like South America, South East
Asia, China and Japan. The two things I work on
are: to increase the business, send the right messages
to the world, to invite people from the media
and from the travel industry to see the situation
for themselves on ground. The second element is
accessibility, e.g. increase deals with airline companies
to fly into Egypt, because a passenger on a
plane is a tourist to me. And to lift visa barriers.
But will Egypt concentrate more on cultural
tourism, green tourism or beach tourism?
The UNWTO says that 60 to 70 percent of the
traffic in the years to come until 2030 will be for
leisure tourism. A landlocked country like Austria
will depend on mountains and lakes for their business.
For a country like Egypt it will be the beaches.
My second grand plan will be for our Mediterranean
coast. It is beautiful and close to Europe
– closer than the Red Sea.
Your Tunisian colleague told me in an interview
that the Mediterranean countries
should have joint activities as a destination.
Do you agree?
I agree, but not for the short or medium haul
destinations. You can apply a joint campaign if
you are dealing with longer haul markets like
America or East Asia. Europe is very close, so Europeans
will come to a single destination, either Tunisia,
or Egypt etc. But visitors from far away will
come the long way to see more than one country.
And it would not be beach tourism, but cultural
tourism or religious tourism.
How important is the Austrian market for
you?
Austria is very important because it is in the
top ten list of the number of tourists coming to
Egypt. It is a small country but a fantastic one.
Do you know Austria?
I love Austria. I have been coming to Austria
since the 1970s and I know it by heart. I have been
travelling all over the country by car. The Heurige
I like most, particularly the ones that are not touristic,
like in Stammersdorf. I like the mountains,
the Rax, Großglockner, Kaprun, and I went to the
Opera Ball, dancing Waltz. I also enjoy Sachertorte.
Austria is different from Germany and Switzerland.
What is your summary for the readers?
If you want to help democracy and freedom, a
country that is aspiring modernity and equitability
between women and men, please support it by
coming to Egypt because when you come you help
the economy. Spend your vacation in Egypt! •
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