Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Kaoud: Egypt's Tourism Sector Needs to Enhance Ties with Russia


Sun 13 Sep 2020 | 12:04 PM
Hassan El-Khawaga

President of the Tourism and Aviation Committee of the Egyptian Junior Business Association and CEO of Egyliere Travel Mohamed Kaoud said that the return of Russian flights to Egypt is a very positive decision in favor of Egyptian tourism and its sustainability.

"The efforts exerted by the state, ministries, and sovereign bodies reflect the ability of the Egyptian negotiator to achieve gains on the negotiating table after the unfortunate plane crisis in 2015," Kaoud said in a statement.

Kaoud indicated that the Russian tourism is a main pillar in the tourism movement in Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, calling for the need to reconsider the system through the return of charter flights and regular flights, with the need to study the activation of regular flights from Sharm El Sheikh airport and Hurghada to St. Petersburg and Moscow airports regularly, and targeting large group tourism and luxury tourism.

The Russian and Chinese tourism occupies the largest percentage of luxury tourism in the world, and regular aviation deals with a different type of flying between Egypt and Russia is essential.

Kaoud stressed the need to strengthen relations between the Egyptian and Russian sides through direct investment, whether with Egyptian-Russian partnerships, or attracting Russian investors in the hospitality sectors through partnerships in hospitality projects to include hotels, restaurants, yachts, and beaches which Russian investors do in Monaco, Paris, Bodrum, Antalya, Cannes, Mykonos and London.

Kaoud added that the development of appropriate plans during the next period will work to increase the number of Russian tourists, as they arrived earlier for more than a million tourists annually to the Red Sea.

"Developing real plans that are applied on the ground will increase the dollar amount for Egypt from Russian tourism, which would reach billions of dollars," he pointed out.

He said that the quality of services and the security factor for the Russian market and other markets because any mistake at the beginning of the return of Russian tourism will create a crisis that may sophisticate the relationship for other years.

Hospitality Stakeholders in Egypt should visit decision-makers in Russia and open further cooperation channels with Russian companies to attract Russian tourism again to Egypt after it leaked to countries around us.

Egyptian businessmen to consider joint ventures in a consortium that acquire shares in major tour operators and tourism companies that influence the destination flourishing.

Turkey has managed to attract 381,000 Russian tourists and 232,000 Ukrainian tourists in 2020. In 2019, only Antalya has received 5.5 million Russian tourists, 800,000 Ukrainian Tourists, and 2.7 million German tourists.

Kaoud noted the need to support and strengthen bilateral international relations between the two countries in accordance with the standards of safety and health as well so that the tourist returning to Russia does not harm the commitment to a 14-day quarantine at his home, and this comes in light of the continuing coronavirus crisis, by providing a PCR analysis on-demand upon return.

There is a great potential in the Russian Market that can flourish Red Sea Tourism and all other industries, directly and indirectly, related to the tourism and hospitality sectors together with providing foreign currency and FDI to Egypt’s Economy.