Egypt seeks Latin American tourists to alleviate the effects of the war in Ukraine

Egypt is focusing its tourism strategy on attracting Latin American visitors, especially from Brazil, to alleviate the effects of the loss of the Russian and Ukrainian market due to the war, which represented up to 40% of tourists to the country of the pharaohs.

“Egypt is seeking to attract tourists from all Latin American countries, especially Brazil,” he told Eph the deputy minister of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Ghada Shalaby, in a telephone interview, a market that she sees as having “potential that can support the tourism sector and increase income” of the most populous country in the Arab world.

For the deputy minister, opening up to these new markets will be “a step to avoid the negative impact that the drop in the number of tourists coming from the current main markets can leave, something that could affect the national economy over time.”

While the deputy minister did not provide figures on tourism in the country, nor are there official figures on tourists who have arrived in Egypt in these months, she did indicate that the Ukrainian and Russian market was almost half of the total tourism industry in Egypt. , which spent the night, above all, in the coastal cities of the Red Sea.

“The negative effect of the war in Russia and Ukraine remains very clear in recent months, especially since these two markets represent between 35 and 40% of the total tourist movement in Egypt,” he said.

Brazil, the potential great market for Egypt

The official stressed that in recent years there has been “an increase in the number of tourists from Brazil on non-direct flights” and this is something that, she added, “reveals the interest of Latin American tourists in Egypt’s tourist attractions , and especially cultural and religious ones”.

Likewise, he stressed that the number of Brazilian tourists “could increase” in the coming months, especially after Egypt’s participation in the Travel and Tourism Fair (WTM Latin America) in Sao Paulo, held on April 5 and 7.

A source from the Brazilian Embassy in Egypt told Eph which have also seen an upward trend in Brazilian tourists since 2020, coinciding with the year of the pandemic, given that Egypt was one of the first countries on the planet to open its borders to tourism, since July of that year.

The latest figures they handle, according to the source, are 35,000 Brazilian tourists in 2019, although they believe that this number has increased in subsequent years.

Egypt has pointed out that Brazil is its largest trading partner in Latin America and this year announced that Egyptian exports to the Brazilian market increased significantly in 2021 by 155.4%, reaching 542 million dollars, compared to 212 million dollars. of 2020.

Work on direct flights

This trend occurs despite the fact that there are no direct flights between Brazil and Egypt, although talks are still going on to open the direct flight that will connect Sao Paulo with Cairo.

The deputy minister stated that within the framework of their strategy to attract Latin American tourists they are “applying many facilities”, such as obtaining tourist visas online for citizens of Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Chile.

“In addition, we are working to activate a line of direct flights from the Egyptair company between Egypt and Brazil, something that would attract many tourists from the countries in that area,” he said, without giving more details on when such a connection could be opened.

For his part, Ehab Raouf, a tour guide who has been working with the Latin American market for years, told Efe that “lately the tourism sector is improving remarkably, after the fall caused by the coronavirus,” and above all he has perceived the arrival of tourists from Brazil and Colombia.

Raouf assured that to attract more tourists from Latin America, the country “has to activate a plan to have direct flights from the main countries in Latin America, and improve the services offered in the most important tourist places in Egypt.” (I)