Deputy Minister of Tourism, Romanian Ambassador in Cairo Discuss Cooperation

Ghada Shalaby, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for Tourism Affairs, welcomed Ambassador Olivia Todrin, Ambassador of Romania to Cairo, at the ministry's headquarters in the New Administrative Capital, to discuss ways of cooperation in the field of tourism between the two sides.

The meeting was attended by Ambassador Khaled Tharwat, Advisor to the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for International Relations and the General Supervisor of the General Directorate of International Relations and Agreements at the ministry, Alexandru Dragu, Second Secretary at the Romanian Embassy in Cairo, and Mr. George Petrosan, Commercial Attaché at the embassy.

The Deputy Minister began the meeting by welcoming the ambassador and her accompanying delegation, commending the distinguished relations between Egypt and Romania in various fields.

Shalaby affirmed the ministry's keenness to enhance further cooperation with the Romanian side and work on attracting more tourist traffic from Romania to Egypt.

She also highlighted the success of Egyptian tourism in 2023, where it achieved a record number of inbound tourists, reaching 14.906 million tourists, the highest rate in the history of Egyptian tourism.

She emphasized that one of the most important factors in achieving this success is continuous communication with industry partners and tour organizers in the targeted markets, keeping them informed of the latest developments in Egypt's tourism sector.

The Deputy Minister spoke about the main features of the National Tourism Development Strategy in Egypt, which aims to achieve the Egyptian state's target of reaching 30 million tourists by 2028.

She pointed out that implementing this strategy was a significant factor in achieving this record number of tourist arrivals in 2023.

She noted that the main axes of this strategy include increasing incoming flight seats to Egypt in cooperation with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, improving the tourism investment climate in Egypt, especially in the hotel sector, enhancing the tourist experience in Egypt, and improving the quality of tourism services provided.

The deputy minister also discussed the medical tourism product currently being prepared, pointing out the ongoing efforts to enhance this product given Egypt's assets that contribute to its promotion.

She emphasized Egypt's desire to benefit from leading international expertise in this field, indicating the ministry's coordination with the World Tourism Organization to enlist specialized international experts to develop a comprehensive strategy for the development of medical tourism in the Egyptian destination, identify target markets and tourists, and highlight investment opportunities available in this new product.

She also mentioned the International Health Tourism Conference scheduled for next March in the New Administrative Capital.

For her part, Todrin stressed the positive messages always issued by the embassy to the Romanian people about the Egyptian tourist destination, urging them to visit it.